Say Those Words
by twistintheplot
Summary: Janet and Phillip's wedding is looming in the very near future. Jack does some interfering in order to buy himself the time to confess his true feelings to Janet before it's too late.
1. Chapter 1: Admitting the Obvious

Notes: I'm not sure if the show gives us any info on the time between episodes so I've set this story to take place about a month after the events of The Heiress. Also Vicky does not exist in this universe and will not be making any appearances lol.

Finally, just prefacing this by saying that I've never written fic before and absolutely have no idea what I'm doing, so my apologies if this is trash! xoxo!

* * *

**Chapter 1: Admitting the Obvious**

**April 1984**

Jack heaved a sigh and checked his alarm clock for what had to be the twentieth time in the last hour. It was nearing 2:00 a.m. and he was due for an early morning at the bistro, but he knew what little sleep he might manage to get that night wouldn't be restful.

He could hear hushed, excited giggles coming from the girls' room through the wall their bedrooms shared. He knew his roommates could only be talking about Janet's engagement to Phillip at this hour. And though he couldn't help but smile every time he heard a peal of laughter, each one still panged at his heart. It was only a matter of time before everything would change.

Of course he told her how happy he was for her when she made the announcement earlier that day. The trio even broke out Janet's special occasion champagne to have with dinner prepared by the chef himself. But he could properly sulk now that he was finally alone, not having to put on a delighted show for Janet.

He was such an idiot. The dumbest guy on the face of the earth. He spent over seven years living in the very same apartment as Janet. They slept in bedrooms right next to each other every night. He had seen that face every single day of his life for the better part of a decade! And yet here he was. Never a word said, feeling as though he'd just been dumped by the love of his life and she didn't even know it.

Staring into the darkness of his bedroom, a little drunk on celebratory champagne, he guessed that somewhere in the very back of his mind he was aware that eventually someone else would see how wonderful Janet was and end up whisking her away from him. If he was being honest with himself, he knew that he was lucky all the guys before had managed to be just as stupid as he was.

Why? _Why_ hadn't he ever said anything? It wasn't like he never had the chance. In fact, he had had so many chances to confess his feelings over the years that it was just sad at this point. That trip to Big Bear with Larry and the girls just a few months ago was the closest he ever got to really telling her anything, but Larry effectively ruined that moment. And when Terri revealed that the magazine, the root of the whole cabin trip, had actually belonged to a patient of hers, Jack's surge of bravery came to a halt and he fell back to the oh so familiar safety net of pretending he wasn't hopelessly in love with Janet Wood, like the coward he was.

But there was nothing he could do now. It was too late. Janet was happy with Phillip. And unfortunately for Jack, Phillip actually seemed to be a pretty stand-up guy.

Now here he was tossing and turning in his bed, about to lose Janet as his roommate and any chance he might have had left to say what he never could. He'd never even know if there was a possibility that maybe she felt the same way.

Jack continued to have these thoughts and feel sorry for himself for what felt like forever. It was around three o'clock when he realized he couldn't hear the girls' muffled voices anymore, so he assumed they had finally drifted off to sleep. But it wasn't until around four when his body's need for sleep took over his all night pity party.

It felt as though barely a few seconds had passed when Jack's seven o'clock alarm blared through his now sunlit room. He rubbed his eyes groggily, feeling totally wiped out from the stress he put himself through overnight. Coffee was essential, as was a time machine, but he'd have to settle on just the coffee to at least make himself functional for the work day. He forced himself out of bed before he could convince himself to lay there for another five minutes.

He could hear the girls moving about around the apartment outside of his bedroom. He paused in front of his closed door and willed himself to put on his happy and supportive face for Janet's sake. Maybe he'd have better luck today and actually believe his own act.

Jack opened his door just as Terri came charging from the direction of the kitchen in a pink bathrobe.

"Morning, Jack! Coffee will be ready in about two minutes!" She greeted, passing him on her way to her room to get dressed.

As if on cue, Janet walked out of the bathroom as she fixed her earring and headed toward the front door to get the morning paper.

"Good morning, Jack!" She smiled brightly at him as he turned to enter the bathroom.

"Morning, Janet." He replied a second after she went outside.

In the bathroom, Jack splashed water on his face and looked in the mirror. He looked pretty close to how he felt, like shit.

"Hey Jack, what's for breakfast this morning?" Terri's shout startled him into dropping a hand towel into the sink.

"How do we feel about pancakes?" He responded automatically as he fished the soaked cloth from the sink and grabbed for a fresh one to dry his face.

"Oh, good!" he could hear his blonde roommate exclaim from the other side of the bathroom wall.

After finishing up in the bathroom, where he gave himself another wordless pep talk, Jack headed over to breakfast duty.

He greeted Janet with a playfully formal, "Ms. Wood." when he entered the kitchen seeing her settled at the table with the newspaper and a fresh cup of coffee.

"Mr. Tripper." She returned, matching his tone.

'_Not bad!'_ Jack was already thinking to himself after one whole successful exchange.

"Pancakes sound good on this lovely Monday morning?" He began pulling ingredients from their assigned spots in the cabinet.

"Sounds perfect." Janet answered, keeping her focus on the paper in her hands.

Jack, however, missed a beat when he caught a glimpse of her engagement ring glinting in the light. He swallowed uncomfortably. It was hard to pretend everything was fine when that thing was shining in his face, practically blinding him. He cleared his throat and shook his head, trying to rid himself of the dread that began to take over. He was so focused on calming himself that he ended up stirring the pancake batter much longer than necessary, a recipe for tough pancakes rather than his signature light and fluffy ones.

Jack began pouring the batter onto the pan he had heating on the stovetop. He couldn't think of a thing to say that sounded normal and not related to begging her to call it off with Phillip, so he hoped Janet was immersed enough in whatever she was reading that she wouldn't notice his unusual silence.

As per usual, Terri had perfect timing and walked into the kitchen right as Jack was finishing up breakfast.

"That smells like heaven." She inhaled, walking toward the coffee maker to pour the remaining contents into her mug.

Janet finally folded up the newspaper when Jack plopped two pancakes onto the plate before her. She voiced a thanks before grabbing the syrup and digging in.

"So, Janet," Terri began as she mixed milk and sugar into her coffee at the counter, "Why don't you tell Jack what you said last night? About the wedding?"

"Oh! Well I was thinking about having it at the old church a few blocks from here. You know, the one covered in vines that we pass on our way to the beach? Isn't it just lovely?" Janet enthused before taking another bite of her pancakes.

"Yeah, that would be a real nice place." Jack replied. "You're already thinking of plans though? You just got engaged yesterday."

"I know, but we're so excited! Plus Phillip wants to get married as soon as possible."

"Huh, is there anything you're not telling us, Janet?" Jack cracked, raising his eyebrows and pretending to swaddle a baby in his arms.

Janet merely retorted with her signature, "Oh, Jack." and a playful swat at his arm to boot.

"Jack, would you grow up?" Terri rolled her eyes as she joined the two at the table. "I think it's sweet! He's crazy about you, Janet."

Janet smiled appreciatively at the blonde.

"He has a big work trip to Greece coming up really soon. I think he might want me to come with him." Janet's eyes widened as she told Jack.

"_Greece?_" She didn't even give Jack enough time to laugh at the joke he had just made before gut punching him with that information.

Terri's fork and knife scraped lightly against her plate as she cut up her pancakes. "Ugh, I know. I've never been more jealous of anyone."

"Knocked up in Greece? Why would anyone be jealous of that?" He overcompensated with another stupid joke.

That earned him another swat and eye roll from the girls.

"Would you just shut up and eat your food?"

"I oughta take your plate away from you, seeing as I prepared it. Ungrateful."

Jack and Terri made faces at each other as Janet went to put her dishes in the sink. "Knock it off, kids!" She poked the both of them as she made for the kitchen door. "See you guys later. I'm dropping by here on my lunch break to call my parents and give them the good news!" Her eyes sparkled with joy and she practically twirled out of the room as her roommates said their goodbyes and see you laters.

Terri giggled watching Janet leave the kitchen and blew on her hot coffee to cool it down some more.

Jack, however, unconsciously dropped the playful persona the second Janet was no longer in the room and moved his gaze to his plate. He still hadn't started eating, instead he used his fork to pick at his pancakes.

Terri, after pouring an unseemly amount of syrup onto her cut up breakfast, finally began to eat herself, but as she did so she couldn't help but notice the shift in energy in the room.

"Jack?"

"Yeah?"

"What's with you? You're turning your pancakes into bread crumbs." Terri pointed her fork toward his plate.

"Oh, that's just how I like 'em." Jack answered with a weak half-smile.

Terri raised an eyebrow in doubt but decided not to press it just yet. "Mmm, okay."

The two ate in silence for a few minutes more, or rather Terri ate and continued to watch Jack turn his food into mush swimming in maple syrup.

The blonde took a long sip from her coffee and slowly set it down. She sighed quietly at the pathetic image across the table from her. With all the excitement of Janet getting engaged yesterday, she almost forgot she had anticipated that in the event that either of her roommates suddenly became attached, the other would most likely be coping just as Jack was currently.

"Jack. Do you not like Phillip or something?" She figured it was worth a shot.

Startled by her question, Jack dropped his fork, causing it to clatter against his plate.

"Wha- ? I- ? No! Of course I like Phillip! What kind of question is that?"

"Well, I don't know." She shrugged. "You seem a little off." She took the final bite of her food, feigning disinterest.

Jack's mouth dropped open and he scoffed, "What are you talking about? I am so _on_."

Terri said nothing but raised her eyebrows as she took another sip of coffee.

"Didn't I offer to cook that special dinner yesterday? I couldn't be happier for Janet!"

Terri gave him a piercing look before she stood up to put her dishes in the sink.

"What?" Jack asked loudly.

"Nothing, nothing." the blonde replied lightly.

She scrubbed her plate clean and stuck it in the dish rack and moved next to wash her coffee mug. She decided she might as well be the one to venture the topic, seeing as no one else ever would.

She let Jack think her silence meant he was in the clear for just a few seconds more.

"It's just that if I had a bad feeling about Janet or hey, even _you_ getting married to a certain person and the wedding was right around the corner, _personally,_ I would speak up. But what do I know?" she flashed him one her classic patronizing Terri Alden smiles over her shoulder.

Jack choked on the swig of coffee he had just taken. It took a few moments for him to clear his airway.

"I don't know what you know. And I still don't know what you think I know."

She ignored this. "I mean, it's obvious you're hiding something, whether to protect Janet or for your own selfish reasons, who knows? But you're definitely keeping something from us."

Jack sat there frozen and wide-eyed, trying to figure out what exactly she was trying to weasel out of him, not daring to believe she may have suspected the truth.

"And as a member of this apartment who signed a lease and pays rent here every month, I think I should be let in on this little secret. Maybe I can help out with whatever situation you've cooked up for yourself, or at least get whatever dirt you seem to have." Okay, yes. She was laying it on thick, but how else was she supposed to get him to talk? It's not like subtly ever worked in this apartment.

But still, radio silence from Jack.

"Okay, in all the time that I have lived here, I don't think I've ever seen you be so secretive."

"Ha, ha."

"I mean _really_, when have you, Jack Tripper, ever been the one to butt out and keep your mouth shut? It doesn't make any sense. I mean just a few weeks ago, you were fighting like it was life or death to keep Phillip away from Janet. What has changed?" She intended to keep this up until Jack admitted to what was really bothering him. She knew full well that there was nothing inherently wrong with Phillip, but if she pretended to believe it, maybe Jack would try to correct her.

"I thought you were supposed to be her friend! Her _best _friend! Frankly, I am shocked that you're just gonna let her get married when clearly something is wrong!" Sometimes it paid to live with Jack, if not for the home-cooked meals but to pick up on his dramatic tendencies and use them against him.

"There's nothing wrong." Jack managed to squeeze in.

"And don't tell me this doesn't have anything to do with Janet because you completely shut off your charm the minute she left the kitchen, Jack." Terri was now splattering the kitchen with soapy water as she flourished her arms in exasperation, sponge still in hand.

Jack wearily wiped sponge water from his face. Internally, he cursed her observational skills.

"Jack, please tell me what is going on. I couldn't stand seeing Janet get married to the guy if there's some deep dark secret about him that she doesn't know about."

She finally paused long enough to give Jack a chance to say something, anything more substantial than what he had said so far.

He sighed, repeating himself, "There's nothing wrong with Phillip... He's a wonderful guy." He admitted.

"Well, then what is it?"

"Ter'."

"I'm on the edge of my seat, Jack! I have to know what's bothering you, 'cause now it's gonna be bothering me!"

He exhaled, cursing Terri once again, this time for being so persistent. But the tiniest part of him was relieved there was someone quite literally begging to hear him out.

He pushed the pancake mush around his plate with his fork a little bit more. He couldn't believe he was about to say it. Whether it was out of his assumption that all hope was lost, the lack of sleep, or a combination of the two, he didn't know. Maybe he was just hungover and couldn't muster up the brain power to hold his own against Terri's interrogation.

"I- I guess... with Janet getting engaged I'm really realizing how much I'm gonna miss her."

"Aw, well I'm gonna miss her too, Jack." Terri agreed.

"I just feel so _selfish._"

"Why's that?"

Jack breathed shakily. "Don't get me wrong, I _am_ happy for her! I mean she's living on cloud nine. How could someone see that and feel badly?"

Terri hardly believed there was any truth in that statement but didn't interrupt him.

"But I don't know... it just makes me think… " His voice trailed off as his confidence began to sputter out.

"Think about what?" The nurse gently encouraged him to keep going.

Jack ran a hand across his face and sighed.

"It just makes me think about… about all those missed opportunities. I guess."

Terri sank back into her chair, a bit shocked that her pushing had actually worked (and so quickly!).

"What do you mean by missed opportunities?" she was certain she could guess, but still she held her breath.

Jack was doing everything he could to avoid Terri's stare and he took a special interest in fiddling with a string hanging off of the placemat under his plate.

"Well. Uh, I don't know. I guess to tell her how I really feel about her." He suddenly felt like throwing up. "But she's getting married now so it's too late for that." He somehow managed a breathy laugh, trying to lessen the effect of the information he had just revealed.

The blonde tilted her head in sympathy, "Oh Jack."

"I know. Crazy predicament I've gotten myself into, huh?"

"It's not so crazy." Terri said kindly.

Jack finally looked up at his roommate, "You're taking this rather well." He noted. He didn't know what he was expecting Terri's reaction to be. Surely surprise? Some shouting? At the very least an audible gasp? But maybe it was better that she was so calm.

"Yeah, well... I've had my suspicions. But oh, to finally hear you admit it! And at a time like this!" To Jack's appreciation, she looked a little distraught.

"Yeah, you mean the worst possible time ever? I- wait. What do you mean _you've had your suspicions_?"

"Hmm? Oh, well I don't know. There have been moments over the last few years where I could just tell there was something more going on, but I figured it wasn't my place to say, really." She replied, more preoccupied by the news finally being out in the open than this other revelation Jack was suddenly having.

Terri having any inkling about his feelings for Janet, feelings in which he definitely had never discussed with the blonde, or anyone else for that matter, temporarily brought Jack out of the miserable mood he'd been in since the day before, "Years? You've known for _years_?"

The sound of utter shock in Jack's voice made Terri forget about being sympathetic and she laughed, "No offense, but you're kind of terrible at hiding it, big guy."

Jack just sort of gaped for a moment in disbelief, and then his heart jumped, "If you think it's that obvious, do you think Janet... knows?" He wasn't sure whether he wanted to know that information. Terri being in on it was a big step for him, so asking where Janet stood in all of this was just bizarre.

"Oh uh, um-" Terri hesitated. Just as it was Jack's right to bring up his feelings himself, she knew she could not share that she believed the feelings were mutual, no matter how right she knew she was. And _technically_ she didn't know for sure whether Janet knew Jack felt the way he did. "I couldn't tell you that, Jack. That is definitely a Janet question, not a Terri one."

Jack sort of deflated, either from relief or disappointment, Terri couldn't be sure. Luckily he didn't push it. Instead, he leaned back in his chair, running his hands through his hair haphazardly.

Terri, who didn't realize she still had the wet sponge in her possession, set it down so she could anxiously drum her fingernails against the table.

The two sat opposite each other in distressed silence until Terri asked in an unnaturally quiet voice, "Are you gonna talk to her?"

Jack leaned forward and let the front legs of his chair hit the ground with a loud thud. "How can I, Ter'? You see how happy she is! Why would I mess with that?" He spoke in a hushed voice like he was afraid Janet was going to come rushing back through the door any second.

"_Jack._ You cannot just sit there and say _nothing_. You'll be spending the rest of your life wondering what could have happened."

"So what? Am I supposed to tell Janet I'm in love with her or something and just expect her to… what? Dump Phillip and the wedding? What if I say something and she still marries him? Then that just makes things awkward and our friendship is thrown out the window. Believe me, I've considered everything that could happen if I dropped that bomb on her." he leaned forward and buried his face in his hands.

"Jack, look at me."

Jack picked up his head, revealing what had to be the most sorrowful expression she'd ever seen on that face.

"You cannot just go on and never say anything. Keeping things bottled up isn't healthy. I mean, look at you! You have to tell her."

"I- I can deal with it, Terri. I have been for many years now." Jack tried unconvincingly to assure her.

"What's coming up isn't going to be the same as what you've been dealing with up until now." Terri lectured. "Janet is going to get married. And once that happens, she's out of here. You're not going to get to see her every day like you have been for the last seven years. You're not gonna get to act like she's your girlfriend without actually making that commitment. This whole arrangement you've got going on here is about to completely change. Sure, up until now it wasn't that bad because you were both living unattached under the same roof, but she's about to start a life with another person! You really think you can just deal with _that_?"

She was telling him things he already stressed over the previous night, but he hated to hear it coming from someone else. It was an unfortunate confirmation that these things were sure to happen and he hadn't just been blowing things out of proportion. "Well, please Terri. Please enlighten me. What exactly should I say to make Janet dump Phillip and be with me? I'd love to know the magic words."

"I can't tell you what to say! This is way too important for me to be putting words in your mouth."

"Yeah, it _is _too important, which is why I've never said anything! I mean, this is Janet we're talking about. _Janet_. I don't want to screw this up and lose my chance and our friendship in one go."

Terri rubbed her temple. Jack's personal crises tended to become everyone else's as well, and this one was no different. "Ugh, if only they weren't so set on getting married as soon as possible."

"You're telling me. I thought I was going to throw up when she told me she was engaged."

Terri felt a little guilty talking negatively about Janet's engagement to Phillip when she had just spent most of the night excitedly discussing the event with the bride to be. "Well, I guess it did all happen a little fast." she was willing to admit.

"A little?" Jack was so glad to have someone to discuss this with. "They've been dating a month, Terri. We've had a carton of eggs in the fridge that has been in our lives longer than Phillip has."

Terri made a face.

"Seriously, what is the rush? Why did they have to get engaged so fast? And why do they have to get married just like that?" He snapped his fingers.

"I don't know. I think they're just caught up in the excitement of it all. You know, whirlwind romance and everything." Terri suggested.

Jack suddenly had a thought come to him. It was a terrible, scheming thought, but sometimes those were the only thoughts that came to him in times of great need. Now that he had an ally who was convinced he should speak his mind, he felt braver and more like himself than he had in the last 24 hours. Why _shouldn't_ he tell Janet how he really felt about her? Why should he accept defeat before he even tried? It was now or never.

"Terri, what if we find a way to push off the wedding so I can get some time and the right situation to tell her?" He felt like a kid with a sugar rush on Halloween. "Bonus points if they break up altogether." He added.

Terri frowned. "I don't know about meddling in their relationship. That seems a little too invasive."

"Whose side are you on? What about all that stuff you said about me spending the rest of my life wondering?"

"Okay, then. What's your plan? Because you've already failed once at keeping them apart." Terri reminded him of the vase incident when Phillip first came on the scene.

Jack reluctantly nodded his head and considered for a moment. "Okay, we don't- we don't sabotage their relationship. We just… keep things from going smoothly."

Terri's frown remained unchanged, "How so?"

"Well, how much do you know about what they want to do for the wedding so far? Janet mentioned that old church, right? We suddenly make it unavailable for the foreseeable future." He offered excitedly.

"And how are we going to manage that?" Terri asked skeptically.

"We book it ourselves."

Terri gave a shout of laughter, "Do you have the money to book a church for the foreseeable future?"

"Maybe if you pitch in." He suggested, though he instantly realized it was a stupid idea upon her reaction.

"You know what would be less of a waste of time? Just talking to Janet and telling her directly about how you feel. None of this extra stuff." Terri stated plainly. She did not approve of how out of hand this little scheme of Jack's could get. "In fact, you could just tell her on your lunch break today."

"No, I'm not ready! I need to prepare!"

"How is messing with some wedding plans gonna help you prepare? Haven't you had enough time to let this stew?"

"Terri…" Jack whined, "You said you'd help me!"

"When exactly did I say that?"

"Oh, okay. I guess I'll spend the rest of my life wondering what could have happened. She will always be the one that got away… " he looked wistfully into the distance or at the fridge, Terri couldn't tell. "And I'll just be miserable because of all the regrets I had in life and I'll probably have a grudge against you that I take to the grave because you wouldn't help out your dear, dear friend." He gave a theatrical choke as he inhaled.

"Alright, alright!" Terri shouted to shut him up. "You don't have to make everything so dramatic! All I'm saying is you need to come up with some more realistic plans in order to have a simple conversation with Janet. You don't have time to be extravagant." She looked at her watch and stood up, "And I need to be heading off to work now. I'll see you later tonight." She gave Jack a pat on the shoulder as she passed him to leave the kitchen.

Jack made a face at Terri's back as he heard her mutter, "Renting out the church, so stupid."

But he couldn't help but smile once he heard the front door open and then close. Maybe all hope wasn't totally lost. If there was one thing that Jack was good at, it was causing catastrophes. The only hard part would be figuring out the perfect way to tell Janet that he loved her once he did his interfering and got the wedding out of her direct line of sight.


	2. Chapter 2: A Simple Question

Notes: First of all, thank you to everyone who sent in those kind reviews, you are all so sweet and I appreciate your words!

Sorry it took me so long to update (it only took me almost a month!)! I'm gonna try to be better about that in the future. Also, sorry if this chapter is kinda slow or meh, we have to set some things up before things get too crazy lol.

Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 2: It Turns Out a Simple Question Can Be a Great Catalyst for Schemers and Defiant People**

Janet returned to an empty apartment for her lunch break shortly after noon. She was clearly very much still high on life and twirled around the living room, humming some made up tune. Her dancing continued until she had spun herself in the direction of the phone.

She was beyond excited to call her parents and tell them the news. It had taken everything in Janet not to call them after the celebration dinner the night before, and the only thing that really stopped her was Terri's reminder of the three hour time difference between Indiana and California. Jack had added that her parents definitely wouldn't appreciate her waking up in the middle of the night after a night of drinking, no matter what news she had for them. Janet retorted that she'd never been foolish enough to call her parents while she was drunk, recalling the time he had called his own mother after a long night at the Beagle to discuss her opinion on store bought versus home baked foods and if one could really tell the difference. That shut him up. But she did listen to Terri and decided the news could wait for the sun to come up. But now it being the middle of the day, _now_ she could call her parents and spread the joy.

It was with an absolutely giddy grin that Janet dialed her parents' number. The little song she was humming turned into that of the wedding march while she waited for someone to pick up.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Mom!"

"Janet? What a lovely surprise this is!" Ruth Wood exclaimed through the phone. "How are you, dear?"

Janet hopped up to take a seat on the table to get comfortable. "I'm doing really, really great! I-"

"Oh! That's wonderful!" Her mother interrupted. "How has work been treating you?"

Janet rolled her eyes good-naturedly. If only her mom knew what news she was about to have sprung on her, she wouldn't be wasting her time asking about such mundane things like work. "Work is good, Mom. As a matter of fact, I got a full-time position as an aerobics instructor. But I actually called to tell-"

"Aerobics?" Her mother cut her off once again. "Well, this is certainly news. What made you leave the flower shop? I thought you loved it there!"

"I did, Mother! I just... I don't know. I was in the right place at the right time, I guess! They thought I would be a great fit there, and it turns out I'm not half bad at it." Janet chuckled, but quickly added, "Plus the pay is _much_ better."

She was itching to just blurt out the real news, but she waited out her mother's pause as she considered this information.

"Hmm. Aerobics instructor. How very modern of you."

"Yeah. Well, you know. A job's a job. This one's been doing pretty good for me at the moment."

"Well, as long as you're happy and not putting yourself out! You know your father and I worry about you. You live so far away and we haven't been hearing from you as much as we used to. And what, with your sister with her own family now, we-"

It was Janet's turn to interrupt. "Mom."

"Yes, Janet? What is it?"

She twisted the phone cord in anticipation. "I actually have some more exciting news. Like, way more exciting than my new job."

"Are you moving back to Indiana?" Mrs. Wood gasped.

"What? No! Of course not." Janet scoffed. "Why would you think that?"

"That's just the most exciting thing that came to my mind. We miss having you close by and-"

"_Mom._"

"I'm sorry, dear. Tell me your news. What is it?"

Janet refocused herself. "Mother…" She paused for dramatic effect. "You are currently speaking to an engaged to be married woman."

There was about five seconds of silence in which Janet assumed her mother was processing what she had just heard. Then the older woman let out a shrill scream that forced Janet to pull the receiver a few inches away from her ear.

"You sound happy!" Janet had to shout into the phone over her mother's elation on the other end.

"Happy? Oh, I am ecstatic!" She could hear her mother catching her breath. "My baby! Engaged!"

"Yup! As of last night!" Janet beamed looking at the ring on her finger.

"I cannot believe this! Oh my! Oh, wait till your father finds out! He'll be over the moon!"

Janet laughed. "Yeah, I figured he would be."

"Sweetheart, you have to tell me absolutely everything. Who is the man? How did you meet? How did he propose? What does he do for a living?"

Janet answered as many of her mother's ever-increasing number of questions as quickly as she could, constantly reminding her that she didn't have much time left before she had to get back to work.

There finally seemed to be an end in sight as Mrs. Wood began gushing about how wealthy Phillip and his family happened to be. While certainly this was a plus, Janet tried to tell her that that was not the reason she was marrying the art dealer, but she was content with leaving the conversation at that point if it meant she could get back to work without being late.

"Mom? Mom? I really should get going. You know I have to eat some lunch before-"

Ruth's gushing had turned into some sort of excited weeping, and Janet was sure that her mother couldn't hear anything she was saying.

"It is just such a relief to see you getting out of that apartment and into a home of your own." She sniffled on the other end. "Not having to support yourself and any freeloading roommates you're living with."

"My roommates aren't freeloaders, Mother! They both have jobs and make their own money. No one is paying anyone's way but their own." This was a repeated conversation that Janet had with her parents whenever they called to check up on her. It seemed that they were still under the impression that Jack remained unchanged from their visit a few years ago, that he was still fresh out of cooking school and with no steady job to support himself. "How many times do I have to remind you that Jack has his own restaurant now? A restaurant that he worked very hard to get and keeps working very hard to run?"

"Oh, dear. You know I don't mean any harm." Mrs. Wood chuckled through her sniffling. "I am just so glad that you'll be moving out of an apartment and into a _house._ With an art dealer! And not sharing a place with someone who evidently owns a restaurant but still needs to share an apartment with two hard-working girls to get by. It's just a more stable life. And I am so happy for you!" She did in fact sound quite thankful for her daughter's living situation was soon to be changing.

"Mom, there is nothing wrong with having roommates when your business is barely a year things do take time."

"Yes, they do! And _Phillip_ seems to have already taken that time for himself and has a very successful career, which is _wonderful_ for you!"

Janet rolled her eyes with some annoyance. She didn't have the time to explain that Phillip's wealthy background made it much easier for him to live the very comfortable life her mother was so focused on. "Whatever you say, Mother. But listen, I _really _do need to get going and make some lunch now."

"Okay, dear! And I'll call you back once your father and I agree on a day next week to fly out to Santa Monica." The mother and daughter had agreed that it would be beneficial to have the Woods come to town to help Janet with the wedding preparations once she had revealed there wasn't much time before the event.

"Sounds good to me."

"Alright, have a good day at work. And we'll see you next week! I love you!"

"I love you too, Mother. See you soon. Bye now."

Janet hopped down from her seat on the table after she put the phone down when Terri walked through the front door.

"Oh hi, Terri." She gave her watch a glance. "Gee, that was a short shift."

The blonde pulled off her hat and ran her fingers through her hair. "Ugh, they switched some of our shifts around, so now I've got a split shift. I have to go back in around six." She spoke with slight resignation. "I'm gonna have to cancel my dinner date tonight."

Janet tilted her head sympathetically. She knew how much Terri disliked those workdays. "I'm sorry, Terri."

"Yeah, me too. But what can ya do."

"So it's safe to say you definitely won't be here at all if I start putting together plans for the wedding tonight?"

"I'm afraid not. But hey, don't go all out tonight. I won't have you putting me in some ugly dress without asking me first." Terri joked, walking to their bedroom to change.

"I wouldn't dare." Janet giggled. "Besides, I just got off the phone with my mom. She and my dad are gonna come in next week to help out with things, so I'd rather we got the bulk of the planning done then anyways, that way they can have some input."

Terri's head popped out of their bedroom door. "Next week?"

Janet beamed at her roommate, nodding her head excitedly. "Yeah! Gosh, Terri. This is all so exciting. Isn't it?"

"Sure, sure." Terri could barely conceal the instant worry that came over her.

Janet, however, didn't seem to register the look on Terri's face or the slight panic in her voice. She grabbed her red watering can to tend to the display of plants she had by the windows. "Honestly, next week couldn't come fast enough. I just want to get on with it, you know?"

Terri merely winced and turned back into their room to finish changing.

Now dressed in more casual clothing, she returned to the living room and looked on anxiously while Janet finished up watering her plants.

"Janet? Do you have any time to talk before you have to go back to work?"

"Sure, Terri. I still have about 10 minutes before I have to head out."

"Oh, good!" Terri gestured for them to sit on the couch.

The blonde flashed a toothy grin at the brunette as they both settled themselves on the couch. Janet returned the smile and the two continued this exchange in an increasingly awkward silence in which Terri was trying to find the right thing to say.

This was definitely a conversation that Jack should have been having, but he wasn't here and, unfortunately, she did promise to help him. Damn him for roping her into this. Wasn't it enough to get him to admit he had feelings for their roommate? But promise him she did, and maybe she could figure out what Janet's current mindset was, feel out exactly how hard (or easy) it would be for Jack to convince her to ditch Phillip and give him a heads up or something. Plus, time was of the essence more so than they originally thought. Having Janet's parents hanging around wasn't going to make things easier for Jack.

Janet pursed her lips and looked at her watch again. "So… what did you want to talk about?"

"Uh… Well… " Terri was suddenly feeling much more sympathetic to Jack's situation, thinking maybe she should have prepared something to say as well. "I… wanted to ask you something. Something about the wedding that is."

"Oh, sure! What do you want to know? I _was _being serious before. I'll make sure you can help out wherever you want. I really value your opinion, Terri." Janet spoke warmly in that sincere, wonderful friend, Janet Wood way that made Terri feel bad knowing the wedding wouldn't be happening as long as Jack did what he was supposed to.

"Thank you, Janet." Her smile was guilty. "That is so sweet of you."

"So what did you want to ask me?"

'_Can you push the wedding off for a year or so? That's about how long it's gonna take Jack to tell you something very important.' _She thought. But she made something else up on the fly. "Ah. Uh, well. I was just wondering about the wedding date? And when exactly… it was gonna be? Yeah."

"Oh, do you need a date so you know when to take off from work?" Janet questioned understandingly.

"You know what? Yes! _That's_ why!"

"Hmm. Well, Phillip said that the trip is at the end of the month. So? About three weeks from now?"

"_About _three weeks. You don't have the day yet?"

"No, sorry Terri. It's all still a bit tentative. They're still working out some of the travel details and some of the business stuff that goes into international art dealing or whatever." She waved a hand casually. "_But." _She said emphatically in response to the glazed over expression on her roommate's face. "But, it will definitely be before the end of April, that is for sure."

"So… no definite date."

"No…"

"But it's definitely going to be before you leave for Greece, which is in about three weeks."

"Yes, that is correct."

"So we can assume that the wedding is in less than three weeks. Right?"

Janet answered with a confused laugh at Terri's strange behavior. "Yeah, that sounds about right. Good math skills."

Terri's laughed in return but hers was a fake tittering one. "So, not date then."

"No, sorry. When I know, you'll know. I _promise_. I'll talk to Phillip and try to weasel it out of him as soon as possible." Janet reassured her.

"Mmm. Okay, okay."

"What?"

Terri hesitated and scrunched up her face. "Doesn't this all seem… I don't know? Not very concrete for something that's happening so soon?"

"What? Phillip's trip?"

"Well, yeah. The trip, the wedding…"

"_What?"_ Janet was instantly offended.

Terri eyes widened, realizing how that probably sounded to Janet. "No! Not- No. I didn't mean it like _that_. I just mean that… wouldn't it be easier for everyone if you just waited? Until after the Greece trip, I mean."

"Terri, we want to get married _before _we go to Greece." Janet needlessly reminded her.

"I know that." Terri spoke appeasingly. "But just think about how much more time you'd have to really plan your dream wedding if you waited to do it after Greece."

Janet frowned. "Who says I can't put together my dream wedding _before _Greece?"

"No one! Certainly not me!" She clasped her hands. "It's just that, wouldn't it be much less stressful to just give yourself more time to get everything together?"

"Who's stressed?" Janet was confused. She had no idea where this was coming from. "I'm not stressed!"

"Well you haven't even started planning yet. Maybe it's more involved and complicated than you're thinking." Terri pointed out.

"I don't think it will be. I have a very clear idea of what I want. Plus my parents will be here next week to help, remember?"

"That's true. But that's still a lot to get done in less than three weeks. The really nice weddings usually take months to make perfect."

Head cocked to the side and brow furrowed, Janet reprocessed that last sentence back to Terri. "Okay. So, you think my wedding isn't going to be one of those "really nice" ones because we're not taking months to plan it?"

"No! It's just that what if what you have in your head can't get done before the end of the month? Wouldn't you rather take all the time you need to make this very special day be exactly what you want it to be?"

This conversation was becoming much less amusingly odd to Janet with every passing second. "Well, I happen to think I can accomplish exactly what I want in three weeks."

"Oh, sure! But just because you can get it done that fast, doesn't mean you should."

Janet couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Why are you suddenly so sure that we should get married after we go to Greece? You sounded a lot different when we were talking about it last night. You were the one going on about me taking as many pictures on my _Greece _honeymoon as possible!"

Terri cringed and noted quietly as an aside, "Maybe it was all that champagne talking."

"What was that?"

"Sorry. I was just trying to make sure you're not making this happy event happen so fast that you don't up enjoying it because of an unnecessary deadline."

"You're in luck, because I can handle this and enjoy it at the same time. I know what I'm doing."

"I didn't say you _couldn't _handle it! Just that you _shouldn't have to_ rush things because Phillip is leaving on a business trip for a month." Considering that she made this up on the spot, Terri thought she was making a very reasonable point and was a bit miffed that Janet was getting so worked up about this.

"I shouldn't _have _to?" Janet asked incredulously.

"Janet-"

"I don't know who you think I am, but no one is forcing me to get married by some _deadline. _Phillip and I both agreed on this. Together."

"Of course not! I don't think you're being forced into anything! You'd never let anyone force you to do something you didn't want to!"

"Exactly! And you're not going to make me change my mind!"

"I wasn't _trying _to. I was just asking why it has to be before Greece? What's so wrong with waiting until after?"

"It _has _to be before Greece because that's when we want to get married. It's really that simple." Janet huffed.

"Okay, okay." Terri put her hands up calmly, before deciding to try one more time. "But how about _after _Greece? That sounds just as simple, doesn't it? Maybe even more simple!"

"Why are you so set on pushing the wedding more than a month after we want it to happen?"

"Oh, no. I'm not _set _on it. I was just asking why it has to be so quick." Terri felt like a broken record clarifying herself.

"Do you think I'm making some kind of mistake getting married to Phillip by the end of the month? Are you hoping if I put it off longer I suddenly won't want to marry him?" Janet asked accusingly.

"Are my words not getting through to you when I speak? I'm just asking why not wait until after. Not once have I said that I don't want you to marry Phillip."

"Yeah, and I answered your question. We just want to get married before and then honeymoon in Greece afterwards!" Janet shouted.

"Well, fine!" Terri once again threw her hands up in the air, feeling defeated by Janet's repeated unwavering position.

"Yeah, fine!" Janet fired back.

They sat without speaking for a little while before Janet stood up and murmured something about going back to work.

"Oh, Janet, don't leave angry! Did you even get a chance to eat lunch yet? Here, let me go make you something real quick." The blonde leapt up from the couch and made to head into the kitchen, but Janet spoke before she could fully enter the next room.

"No. I didn't have time to eat, what with you trying to stop my wedding from happening." she stated icily. She swung her purse over her shoulder so hard that it hit the other side of her body. She stalked over to the front door and opened it and turned back to look at Terri. "And I'd only ask you to prepare food for me if I was looking for a death sentence." And she made her exit with a slam of the door.

"What just happened here?" Terri asked aloud to the now very quiet apartment.

She plopped back down on the couch and sat there for a few minutes before letting out a deep sigh. She got up mechanically, grabbed her purse and headed out the front door.

...

Terri walked into Jack's Bistro with purpose. She figured she may as well tell Jack the current state of things before he messed up a situation she had already thoroughly messed up herself.

It was midday, so the restaurant only had a few tables occupied by customers. But then again, the establishment was never exactly busy, even at peak dining hours.

"Hi." Terri startled the host, who looked like he was trying his best not to fall asleep at his stand. "Could you tell Jack that his roommate is here and needs to speak to him?" The kid immediately straightened up, eager to do something, and rushed into the kitchen.

A few moments later, Jack came bursting out of the kitchen with Janet's name coming out of his mouth, but he slowed his pace when he saw it was his other roommate who had come for a visit. "Oh. It's you."

"It's lovely to see you too." Terri cracked dryly. It was a wonder to her that Jack was so surprised to find out that she knew how he felt about Janet this whole time, especially when he did stuff like this so uninhibited.

"Sorry, Ter'." The chef said quickly. "I just thought you were at work. What's up?"

"Well, Janet's parents are coming to town next week to help make sure everything is perfect for the big day!" she revealed, complete with a perky voice and fake smile to boot.

Stunned, Jack made to steady himself on the host stand but ended up sending the podium crashing to the floor along with his body.

Terri pulled Jack up and helped him set the podium upright. The two bent down to collect the menus that had scattered on the floor during the collision.

"A week?" Jack looked so taken aback that Terri almost felt bad for him again.

"Yes. A week." Terri straightened a stack of menus and added them to the pile in Jack's hands. "Also, she's pissed at me, so thanks for that."

He managed to look more dumbfounded by this next piece of information. "Janet's mad at _you? _What did you do?" It was common knowledge that Jack was the one who got on his roommates nerves, rarely ever was it the other way around. Hearing that Terri had done something to anger Janet was like hearing that pigs had finally started taking flight.

"_I _asked her why the wedding had to be before that stupid trip to Greece, and simply suggested that it would be beneficial to put it off until after. But she seemed to take that as me being unsupportive and that apparently, I don't want her to marry Phillip at all."

"Well, I mean. You don't, right?" Jack confirmed unnecessarily.

"No, actually. I have no opinion on the matter. I'm just messing with the both of you because I think this is all just so funny."

Jack, not thinking anything about this was funny, said nothing. Terri rolled her eyes. "Of course I don't want her to marry Phillip. Did we not just have that very important conversation a few hours ago? And besides, I didn't _tell _her that I don't think they should get married. I'm not stupid. She just thought that by asking that, I didn't have faith in her to pull this off or something."

Jack regained his voice at this clarification. "Well good going, Terri. What are we gonna do now?"

Terri shook her head. "No. Not we. You are up to bat next, pal. I have to go back to the hospital tonight. So you two will have the whole night alone with each other."

"Oh, okay. So what am I gonna do then?" Jack asked.

"I don't know. Just don't screw things up as much as I did. Don't ask about moving the date of the ceremony. Simple stuff, really."

"Terri…" There was that whiny voice again.

She groaned. "Haven't I done enough? If I were you, I'd relieve me of my duties. I've already made things more difficult and that was me trying to help you out and buy you more time."

"Please, you're all the help I've got."

"Oh, god."

"Come on! What should I do?" Jack fretted.

"Do you have a brain of your own? Can't you use it? You've talked to Janet plenty of times before."

"Yeah, so have you. And look what happened today… Sorry." He added as an afterthought.

"Ugh. Fine." Terri thought for a moment and then the dimmest of light bulbs went off in her head. "Okay, look. She's definitely still going to be mad at me by the time you two get home from work tonight, right?"

"Yeah, I assume so."

"And she'll probably want to vent to you, if you're the person who happens to be there."

"Okay…"

"I should know because she's always telling me about something stupid you said or did."

"Ouch." Jack deadpanned.

Terri looked and spoke expectantly at Jack as she continued. "And she's going to want to have someone who will hear her out… Do you see what I'm getting at?"

Her idea suddenly dawned on him. "Get on her good side."

Terri nodded. "Yes. She can complain about me being an unworthy friend or whatever. And she'll be extra appreciative of you, a friend who agrees with her and would never say something as offensive as I did. And so you can brighten her mood and then do your thing and confess your undying love and whatnot." Jack brought a hand to his mouth to bite his fingernails at that last part. "..._Or_ you could just get on her good side if you're not ready for the confessing part and we'll regroup tomorrow, even though I think you're long overdue for some confessing."

Grateful for a plan to follow that wasn't his own and didn't involve saying words he hadn't arranged the right way in his head yet, Jack was rendered speechless once again.

"You're welcome in advance." Terri said pointedly. "And you know what? You're welcome for taking one for the team and getting her mad at me. You owe me."

Jack let out a breath of relief. "I sure do. Thanks a million, Terri. I don't know how I'd do this without your help."

"You probably couldn't. And you're just lucky I care so much about Janet, otherwise you'd be on your own."

"Ha, ha, ha." Jack replied sarcastically, but quickly followed up with an appreciative smile. "I should be getting back to the kitchen. Dennis is probably back there eating all the cheese or something." He'd just noticed the host had never returned to his post.

"Okay, see you in the morning. And good luck."

Jack waved goodbye to his roommate and headed back towards the kitchen, but turned around so he could give her two thumbs up. When he turned back around, he clumsily hit the wall, instead of pushing through the swinging door as he had intended, but laughed it off as he was feeling quite upbeat about what the night possibly held for him and Janet.

...

That evening, Janet returned to an empty apartment once again, this time with two items, her purse and a grocery bag. She flicked on the lights and gave her purse a half-hearted toss in the direction of the side table. She let it stay on the floor when it missed the table entirely.

She dropped herself onto the couch. Exhausted. She was totally wiped out, physically and mentally. Teaching the same aerobics lesson to varying degrees of difficulty the entire day really took it out of a person, and Janet was really starting to feel it everywhere now that she had stopped moving. Though her purse wasn't worthy of anything more than the floor at the moment, she immediately dug inside the paper bag and pulled out the two things she had purchased from the grocery store after she had left work for the day, a bag of potato chips and a copy of Modern Bride Magazine.

Deciding to start with the chips, Janet opened the bag and began eating with a scowl. She was glad she still had a bit of alone time before Jack would be getting home, and she was especially glad that Terri was now working into the night. She let out a merciless laugh at the thought of Terri and her split shift, how she had to cancel a date, and how she probably wouldn't be returning home until the early morning hours. '_That's what you get.'_ Janet thought, feeling justice had been served.

But still, she didn't _really _feel better. Terri's questions had unfortunately stuck with her for the rest of her work day. And although she wouldn't dare admit it, her roommate's concerns were getting to her. What if she _couldn't _put together a perfect wedding before it was time to fly off to Greece? She hated to even think it after causing such a scene with Terri, but even with her parents coming to help beforehand, there was a lot that went into planning a wedding. And obviously, contrary to what she had said earlier, she had never planned a wedding before and most definitely did _not _know what she was doing. She munched on her chips more quickly.

She still couldn't believe Terri was the one who was making this difficult. For some reason, she had thought Jack would be especially hard to deal with. But Jack had been so… delighted when she broke the news? He'd even been playing nicely with Phillip whenever he'd come around the apartment, and seemed so genuine about it too. Somehow that thought wasn't much of a comfort to her either.

Janet had expected Jack to find something wrong with Phillip by now, something that bugged him, something irreconcilable. Actually, he _had _done that already. But the vase confusion was quickly smoothed over. Phillip miraculously stuck around even after being accused of trying to take advantage of Janet and her inheritance. And Jack seemed to calm down and that was the end of his meddling into her relationship with Phillip. It was weird. It didn't feel right. Or maybe it did. No. Well! Yes. It did feel right. Didn't it? She didn't know.

Janet groaned out loud and glimpsed the magazine that already lay slightly forgotten on the cushion next to her.

The picture of the bride on the cover seemed to bring Janet back to her senses. Why was she thinking about Jack when she should be getting a move on putting together a whole wedding before the month was through?

She picked up the magazine and smiled as she flicked through it sort of aimlessly, catching glimpses of happy couples in wedding gowns and tuxedos, elegant floral arrangements, and a chance to win a honeymoon to Hawaii. She had purchased the magazine in response to the worry that her argument with Terri had instilled in her. Why was she so focused on wondering why Jack was being a perfectly good and supportive friend about her engagement? There was nothing wrong with that! He was acting like a mature adult about the whole thing. That was good. _Good_, she assured herself and almost laughed at her thoughts from just a few seconds ago. In fact…

She stood up and walked over to the phone, found the number neatly written in her contact book, and carefully dialed.

"Hello?"

"Phillip! Hey, it's me!" Janet, with a suddenly bright attitude, greeted her fiancé.

"Janet! My wife to be!"

She decided to cut to the chase. "Do you want to come over tonight and get started planning this wedding?"

Phillip hesitated and Janet knew he was most likely checking to see that he could make the visit at the last minute. "Sure! I just need to finish up this paperwork. I could probably be there in an hour or two?"

"Perfect." Janet smiled serenely.

"Great! See you then, Janet."

"I'm looking forward to it!"

The couple said their goodbyes and Janet hung up the phone. She let out a breathy laugh thinking of Terri and her ridiculous questions from that afternoon. '_I _can _do this.' _And what did it matter what anyone else thought anyways? Terri wasn't the one getting married. And there was no reason to feel put off by how supportive Jack was being, _that was good._ And even if he wasn't okay with it, that was his problem, not hers. She had her wedding to plan. There wasn't time to be upset or contemplate why certain people were acting the way that they were.

After taking a deep breath, Janet decided she'd better hop in the shower so she'd be ready before Phillip came over.


	3. Chapter 3: Life Advice and an Agreement

Note: So sorry this took so long to update! I swear the next chapter is a shorter one so it will take less time for me to get my act together and edit it lol.

Enjoy Jack and Janet being a messy and confusing duo who also need to get their acts together.

* * *

**Chapter 3: Unsolicited Advice on Life and an Unfortunate Agreement**

Jack opened the front door as quietly as possible when he returned home from work that night. He stuck his head into the apartment first to give the place a meek look around, but found the living room was empty.

"Janet?" He called out softly. After not getting a response, Jack finally brought the rest of his body into the apartment and closed the door without a peep.

He frowned. Maybe she had gone out, or maybe she had gone to sleep? Maybe she was with Phillip.

However, Janet's whereabouts were finally discovered when she came out of the bathroom, freshly showered and dressed in her bathrobe. She smiled warmly at him as she turned in to her bedroom. "Hi, Jack! How was work?"

"Hi, Janet." Jack answered gently. "Work was good. How was your day?" He could hear her rummaging around for something.

"Ah, it was okay. Glad to be home!"

"Same here." Jack called from his spot by the front door. He was confused. Janet didn't seem to be angry at all. In fact, she seemed to be quite upbeat. He knitted his eyebrows together. Maybe Terri _was_ just messing with him.

Janet returned to the living room with a notepad and a few pens in a variety of colors and smiled at him again as she walked over to the couch. Still rooted to his spot by the door, Jack watched her settle down and contemplated what he was supposed to do now. The plan had been that Janet would vent to him with very little coaxing on his part, but her demeanor gave no indication that she had had an argument with Terri earlier that day.

Unfortunately, Jack's legs began walking him to the couch before he had a chance to think of what to say. He sat down next to Janet, who was flipping through some magazine. "Whatcha got there?" He asked, giving her shoulder a playful poke.

Janet closed the magazine and held up the cover for him. "Modern Bride." Her face broke into a nervous smile. "Figured I might as well get started. You know, get some ideas."

Terri was right, there was no way he'd be able to pretend everything was fine for the rest of their lives. Just the idea of her getting ready for her wedding made him want to shrivel up inside. Janet settled back into the magazine and Jack sat mutely and just watched her read with sad eyes.

After a few moments, Janet couldn't help but notice that Jack was still looking at her. She set the magazine down in her lap. "You have any plans for tonight?" She questioned casually.

"Oh, no. I'm taking a much needed night in." Jack answered.

"So no one wanted to go out with you, huh?" Janet teased.

"Ah ha ha ha." Jack replied. "I don't have to go out every night, you know. Besides, there's nothing wrong with spending some quality time with my dear old Janet, is there?"

"Well, no." Janet responded. "But I'm just looking through this magazine. You probably won't find it that interesting." Her eyes drifted back to the page she had been reading and she squinted at the small print. "Actually, I'm gonna go get my glasses."

While Janet went searching for her glasses in her room, Jack tried to make himself more comfortable by adjusting his seating position, with no luck. He felt like he was going to throw up. He couldn't do this. Janet had no idea, not a clue that he was harboring these feelings. She was in the next room looking for her reading glasses so she could see that damn magazine while he was considering saying something that could change both of their lives.

He smoothed out his pants and took a few deep breaths in an attempt to calm his nerves. He saw the magazine out of the corner of his eye. The bride on the front cover was beaming up at him condescendingly like she somehow knew what a loser he was for getting himself into this situation. "Oh, what do _you _know?" He spoke quietly before he flipped the magazine over to hide the woman's face.

"Sorry, what did you say?" Janet's voice came from behind him as she left her room with her glasses secured on her face.

"Oh, nothing. Just uh, singing to myself."

Janet shot him an amused look before she sat down. She settled back into her magazine for a few seconds but she couldn't keep ignoring Jack's presence. She couldn't focus with him just sitting right there doing nothing, it was making her feel self-conscious.

She set the magazine on her lap once more and exchanged a polite, though awkward smile with Jack. Having experienced this very same scenario earlier in the day before getting into it with Terri, Janet was feeling apprehensive.

"Jack?"

Yes, Janet?"

"Is there something you want to talk about?"

At first Jack's only response was to stare with his mouth hanging open before he finally said, "No. No. Not really."

"Oh, okay." She didn't believe him in the slightest but didn't press him.

The two looked at one another awkwardly, not knowing what to say. Janet knew something was off but she couldn't tell what exactly it was.

Jack finally let out a long noisy breath and tapped his legs. "So... your day was just okay? Not excellent?"

"Eh."

There it was! This was his chance to keep things going as planned. He'd just have to draw it out of her more than they thought he would. "What made it eh? You seemed pretty happy-go-lucky at breakfast."

"Nothing really. It was just a long day, that's all." She sure as hell wasn't going to let Jack in on Terri's argument against having the wedding by the end of the month. "I was just really anxious to get started with these plans. There isn't much down time at the gym."

"Oh. "Jack nodded, hiding his disappointment that for whatever reason, she wasn't going to bring up what Terri had said. "Yeah, that makes sense."

"Yeah, I thought so too." '_Why couldn't Terri be reasonable like Jack?' _Was a thought she never imagined she'd be having and yet here she was. But still, something wasn't quite right about his behavior. He was oddly not talkative, which was very un-Jack-like of him.

"Jack, are you alright?"

Jack raised his eyebrows and widened his eyes. "Wha-? No- I mean, yes. Of course I'm alright. What would make you think I wasn't?"

"You're just being very... _quiet._ I mean, usually you're talking non-stop."

"Well, I- I had a very long day at work you know. Can't a guy relax quietly in his home after a tiring day? There's no need to be so high energy after a long shift."

"Not once has that stopped you before." Janet cracked with a smile. "Come on. What's going on in there, Jack?"

This wasn't right. He was supposed to be asking _her _what was on _her_ mind. "There's nothing going on in here."

"Yeah, well usually that's the case." Janet quipped once again. "But definitely not right now."

Jack sucked his teeth. Was this the moment? Should he just go right out and say it? No. He couldn't. But then again, Terri seemed to think this was the moment... but what did she know? How could Terri possibly know when the right moment was? Didn't she realize how easily Janet could just shut him down and go on with the wedding? Maybe it was better that he never found out. Better to always think of what could have been rather than knowing he had no chance? Right?

"Jack?" Janet's voice snapped him out of his head.

"Huh?"

"Seriously, what's up with you?"

"Oh. I don't know. Maybe I'm just tired." He faked a loud over the top yawn.

Janet waited for him to finish the act. "You are a terrible liar, you know that?"

"I'm not lying! We were up late last night, remember? In fact," He put a hand to his head. "You know, I've felt a smidge hungover all day. Maybe I should just head on over to bed." He made to stand up before Janet's voice stopped him from moving.

"Jack, honey, you know you can talk to me about anything, right? It's a perk that comes with being a best friend. You don't need to hide anything from me." She put a hand on his and squeezed it gently.

'_God if only you knew.'_ Jack thought to himself as he stared into her eyes. He tried to read her face, her mind, anything. _Was_ there a chance that she could possibly feel the same way? Unfortunately, those big brown eyes did nothing other than invite him to share what was on his mind and assure him that everything would be okay. His heart was pounding and before he knew it, words were coming out of his mouth. "I guess maybe it's this whole wedding business or something." He felt a little light-headed. Is this what fainting felt like?

Once again, Janet's voice recentered him. "What do you mean, honey?"

He swallowed nervously. "I don't know. I think that it all just feels a little weird to me."

He registered that Janet's expression become slightly apprehensive. "You haven't talked to Terri today have you?"

Something in him told him he should abandon that part of the plan. "Just at breakfast. Why?"

That apprehension instantly faded into relief and she shook her head. "No reason. Go on. Why does it feel weird to you?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe it's because it's um, such a… a big thing, you know? Like… it's not- it's not really something you can take back." He was beginning to wonder whether he always sounded this dumb when he talked and why Janet had ever wanted to talk to him at any point ever.

"Aw, of course it is! Marriage is very serious business."

"Yeah."

Suddenly Jack was chuckling to himself.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing." He said as he chuckled softly. "I was just thinking about that time I almost got married to Denise. Remember her?"

"Oh, god. Now I know why you're laughing."

"Can you imagine if I'd actually gone through with it?"

Janet joined his laughter. "You would've been miserable. Working at, what was it? A cardboard box company?"

Jack actually slapped his knee he was laughing so hard. He didn't know why he found this to be _so _funny. Maybe because it was also making Janet laugh and it was a way to avoid saying what he really wanted to say.

"Wait, wait, wait. Remember those clothes she had me wearing?"

"No. They were so bright, I couldn't see them."

The roommates were almost in hysterics at this point.

"Thank God you got me out of that one before it was too late."

Janet stopped laughing as she genuinely said, "Of course! She was all wrong for you."

"Yeah…" He seemed to get lost in thought for a moment but then added. "And Terri and Brett Wade. Talk about a disaster waiting to happen."

"It's too bad he was such a rat."

"Well, good thing I realized from the start how terrible he was."

"Oh, you don't like any of the guys we go out with." Janet explained. She wasn't going to admit that Jack had totally been in the right that time, while she had encouraged Terri to go for it.

"That's not true!"

Janet rolled her eyes. "It's okay. I know it's because you're very protective of us. You just have a funny way of showing it sometimes."

"Well, you're very important to me."

Janet smiled. "I think you're pretty important too, Jack."

Jack's eyes warmed at this. "Just know that I always want to see you happy."

"Good thing Phillip isn't like Denise or Brett Wade." Janet spoke, looking quite satisfied that she hadn't chosen someone terrible to spend the rest of her life with.

Jack winced. "Yeah. But you know, it's not too late. I could whip something up and get rid of him like that." He snapped his fingers.

Of course, Janet assumed he was still kidding around and he joined her in another bout of laughter.

The laughter died down more quickly this time though and that awkward silence quickly took its place again. Janet realized that Jack hadn't actually told her why he felt weird about the wedding, and looked at him determined to get to the bottom of things. "So, what's really up here, Jack? What's bugging you?"

Jack squirmed in his seat. He'd hoped bringing up Denise would make her forget that he was acting weird and that they'd be able to talk about her feelings, not his.

Janet saw that he was having some kind of internal struggle going on and decided to help him out. "You said it seems like a big thing. You wanna talk about why that's bothering you?"

'_I don't like it because it means you're leaving me.' _He thought desperately, though he couldn't say that out loud without sounding like a selfish jerk.

"Jack! Come on!" Janet urged. "It's not good to keep things to yourself, you have to talk about it."

He raised his eyebrows nervously at this. Again, if _only_ she knew.

"I guess it's that… well you're starting a whole new chapter in your life." He began. "And I don't know… I guess I'm feeling a little… left behind."

Janet's eyes softened. "Oh, Jack. Every person goes at their own pace in life. You'll find that special someone soon enough." She patted his hand.

Jack looked down at her hand on top of his and smiled sadly at the image. He felt comforted and discouraged all at once. "That special someone." He repeated faintly.

"Yeah!" Janet lowered her voice to match his tone and tilted her head. "You're kind of an amazing guy. It won't be long before you meet the right girl who sees that."

Jack forced his eyes away from their hands to look incredulously back into her face. He'd laugh if this conversation wasn't making him feel so terrible. For someone so intelligent and sensible, she could be so oblivious. Did she really have no clue at all that there was more to this awful feeling he was having? That his feeling left behind wasn't about him not having found that special someone? _She _was his special someone. How was this not registering? There was no way he was _that_ discrete, Terri made him well aware of that.

"What?" Janet asked confused by his stare.

"Nothing. I- That wasn't exactly what I meant."

"About what?"

"About being left behind."

"Oh." Janet felt a little embarrassed. "What did you mean then?"

"Um." If only he knew how to say it without saying it and still get the point across to Miss Oblivious sitting next to him. Couldn't she just get the hint? "I think I meant that this is a really big life moment for you and well, soon you're gonna be gone. I think I'm gonna miss you, a lot."

Something about this hit Janet different and her heart felt like it was sinking a little. "Oh." Her voice was just above a whisper.

Jack could just feel her fill with sadness and grasped for her hand so that their fingers interlaced. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bum you out." He tried to chuckle to lighten the atmosphere.

"No, no." Janet squeezed his hand. "I'm really gonna miss you too, Jack. Gosh, I guess I was so excited about getting engaged I didn't really think about this part of it." He was right. She was going to be leaving everything behind and all in less than a month.

"I shouldn't have brought it up, I'm sorry." He suddenly felt bad for saying anything. See, this is why he was doing perfectly fine not speaking up, it wasn't making her feel like how she was right now.

"No, Jack." Her eyes somehow seemed to grow in size, and they just looked so sad. "I asked you what was bothering you. I'm just sorry that there isn't really anything I can do to make it better."

"Don't be sorry, Janet. This is supposed to be one of the happiest times of your life, don't let me ruin that for you. I'm probably just being over-dramatic."

Janet smiled at this but still looked sad. "Well, if it helps, I'm not gonna be completely out of your life you know. I did just say you're my best friend, you're not getting rid of me that easily." Part of her was still determined to brighten his mood.

Jack looked down at their hands again. "Yeah. Guess I'm just really gonna miss this part of it."

"What?"

"You know, seeing each other every day. I kind of love that about us."

"Yeah… me too."

"I guess that's what's bothering me, you know?" The grasp of her hand seemed to keep him from running into his bedroom and pretending he wasn't putting his heart on display like this. "Things sure are gonna be different."

"That's true, but…" Now Janet was the one trying to find the right words. She was trying not to think too much into the fact that things were going to be totally different, because then she might not have _anything_ good to say that would make him feel better about her 'leaving him behind'. "But I promise you I will make sure we see each other all the time. You'll be sick of me before my first wedding anniversary."

Jack laughed softly. "Not possible."

"Don't challenge me or I'll make it my goal." Janet gently teased.

Once she saw that his mood wasn't improving much, she decided that maybe being frank with him might work. "Oh come on, Jack. This is life. Things can't always stay the same forever, you know that."

"Yeah, I know."

"We have had some really great times living here together. But just you wait, there are more good times to come."

"It sure doesn't feel like that right now." Jack answered pathetically.

"Yeah, okay. But that feeling will pass soon enough." She assured him.

He didn't say anything to this.

"Jack, come on. You have long-term life goals, right?"

Jack sighed. "Well, sure I do. Doesn't everyone?"

"Do you really expect everything to fall into place if you're stuck here with Terri and me for the rest of your life?" Janet tried to keep her tone upbeat and encouraging. "I mean, you want to get married and have kids eventually, right?"

"What?" He didn't know how he lost control of the conversation, and he certainly didn't know how they got here talking about his lifelong wishes and desires. "Uh yeah. But what's that got to do with anything?"

"I guess that's how I've been thinking about things lately."

"You've been thinking about getting married and having kids lately?"

Janet laughed. "No, not exactly that. I've just been thinking about the future more and how… I guess how the bigger things I want in life aren't gonna happen if I keep looking in the same places, you know?"

"I don't think I'm following."

"Okay, um." Janet sighed. She was having trouble figuring out what she was trying to say as well. "Some parts of life just don't intertwine for some people. So… Here I have you and I have Terri, my best friends, and then over here I have Phillip, who is going to be my husband. Sometimes you have to let yourself be open to more in order to get what you want out of life. You can't wait around for it to happen somewhere there's no chance, right?"

"You mean getting married?" Jack asked.

"Oh, well not necessarily to get _married_. But... you know, waiting for someone to take the next step with, like a serious relationship that could actually go somewhere." She wasn't exactly sure where this was coming from as she said it, but it made sense in her head. "It's not like anything like that was gonna happen around here… you know?"

Jack's heart skipped a beat. Did she just? Was "around here" referring to this apartment, him and her, Jack and Janet, who lived in this apartment?

Janet began speaking again before he could say anything in response. "Sorry, I think that was a really roundabout way of saying that you are my best friend and I love you and all the time we've spent together as roommates, but just because I'm getting married doesn't mean that this part of my life goes out the window. Sure, I'm starting a new chapter in my life but you're not losing me forever. You'll understand one day when you find someone you want to share those big life experiences with."

Jack winced. "Janet, um- I don't think that's really what I was getting at."

"Oh?"

"About that whole thing about waiting around here though… What if- I mean what if there _was _something to wait for, around here I mean."

"What?"

He felt all shaky. "How would you feel if you _could_ find things in places you've been looking? What if they're right there?"

Their eyes met and for a moment Jack could've sworn his blue eyes saw a hint of understanding in her brown ones.

Janet's heart was racing looking into the searching expression in Jack's eyes. There was something in them… but no, she couldn't even begin to dare to believe what she suspected. But she couldn't tear her eyes away from his. Did he mean that he-

The doorbell rang out like an alarm in the quiet of the apartment, causing both Jack and Janet to nearly jump out of their skins. Janet recovered first, finally withdrawing her hand from Jack's grasp, and went to answer the door.

Jack ran a hand through his hair and exhaled a breath he didn't realize he was holding in. He was _this _close to telling her and someone had to go and ruin it!

"Phillip! Hi!" Janet's voice revealed who their visitor was and Jack's stomach swooped. What was _he _doing here?

"Come on in." Janet welcomed their guest into the apartment. Jack stood up to greet Phillip just in time to see him exchange a quick peck on the cheek with Janet. He was wearing an expensive looking suit, and looked way overdressed for anything that could ever be happening at Apartment 201.

Janet looked down at her robe, feeling very undressed standing next to Phillip. "Uh, I'm going to change real quick. Jack, would you mind keeping Phillip company? I'll be just a minute." She said pointedly at Jack before she ducked into her room.

Left hanging and having no choice but to stay with their guest, Jack walked toward him and stuck his hand out. "Hey, Phil. How are ya?"

"I'm doing just fine! And yourself?" Phillip shook his hand pleasantly

"Ah, can't complain."

"How's business down at the bistro going?"

"Steady as it always is."

"Say, Janet and I should pay a visit one of these days. I'd love to see the place." Phillip offered kindly. "She's always going on about how impressive it is that you've got your own restaurant up and running. I'd love to see what all the fuss is about."

Jack hoped his grimace looked enough like a smile to fool Phillip. "Hey, you're welcome anytime."

"Noted."

Jack glanced at the girls' bedroom door, but evidently Janet was still changing. "So, uh, what brings you here at this hour, Phil?"

"Oh, Janet invited me over to do some wedding planning. It seems we have quite a bit to do and not very much time to do it in." Phillip chuckled.

Jack winced. "Yes, that does seem to be the case now doesn't it."

He walked over to the couch and gestured for Phillip to take a seat.

"It does sound like quite the daunting task, especially considering we'll be in Greece by the end of the month. Did Janet tell you about that?"

"She sure did." It sure was nice of her to forget to tell him that Phillip would be paying them a visit that evening though.

Phillip, ever so unaware, didn't seem to notice anything strange about Jack's demeanor. "Of course, that's what's so great about Janet. She's so on top of things and ready to face a challenge head on."

"Yeah, that sure sounds like Janet."

"What sounds like me?" Janet finally emerged from her bedroom wearing a bright pink dress.

Phillip stood up when he realized she was in the room and said, "Just that you're so wonderful and pro-active. You look lovely, by the way."

Janet grinned and Jack grimaced again.

"So I called my mom earlier today and she's thrilled. Can't wait to meet you." Janet informed her fiance as they both sat down.

"Say, that's fantastic!"

"Yeah!" Janet nodded happily. "_And _she and my dad are coming down next week to help out with everything."

"Even better! We sure could use some extra pairs of hands."

"I know, right?"

"Well, um I'm gonna go and get some baking done." Jack announced suddenly, feeling as though he would be ignored if he remained on the couch.

Janet furrowed her brow. "I didn't know you were making stuff tonight."

"Oh, yeah. I just remembered I have loads of desserts to make. I'm gonna be super busy, might be up all night baking." He explained out of thin air.

"What's the occasion?" Phillip chimed in.

"It's- uh, it is... for the bistro, of course." He stood up.

"You can't do that at the restaurant?" Janet asked.

Phillip nodded, "Yeah, wouldn't the ovens there be much more convenient if you're making a lot of something?"

"What can I say?" Jack shrugged. "I'm not known for being on top of things am I? Now if you'll excuse me, I have a lot of work to get done." He made his way to the kitchen door but turned around. "And Janet, please try to keep out of my hair, would you? I can't have you in there distracting me."

"I'll try my best."

"Good, good." Jack replied before pushing through the kitchen door, leaving the couple alone to exchange an amused look.

...

A couple of hours had passed since Jack had left Janet and Phillip to work on their planning in peace and the kitchen was nothing short of a disaster. In truth, he had no reason to be baking anything for the bistro, but he didn't think he could handle sitting there with the two of them as they made all of their plans while staring lovingly into each other's eyes or something. Besides, he needed to figure out what his next step should be.

However, it had been over two hours and a few dozen cookies and a cake later and he still couldn't think of anything. It was like his brain short-circuited after having that moment with Janet earlier. What he needed was to get her alone and determine what her feelings were about whatever the hell happened right before Phillip walked through the door, ruining everything.

But there was definitely something, wasn't there? He wasn't just being hopeful and making himself see what he wanted to see, simply because he wanted it so badly, right?

He stuck another pan of cake batter into the oven and returned to whipping up a frosting for the first cake he had made, which was cooling on the counter.

He had been really hopeful that something had clicked in Janet's mind at the end of their little heart to heart. But the longer he heard the quiet murmur of her and Phillip's voices, the less likely it seemed that she could be breaking things off with the guy and that at any minute she'd come through the kitchen door saying she got the message and felt the same way.

No, that was too much to ask for, because that would be too easy. He didn't have a clue what he should say or do next though. Maybe he could go in there and make some kind of a scene and scare Phillip away? Tell him some made up story about an important historical piece of artwork that Janet had destroyed recently.

He was just crossing that ridiculous idea off the checklist in his head when he heard raised voices coming from the living room.

He quickly went to the kitchen door, opening it slightly so he could hear a bit better, but was greeted with a slammed door into the side of his face.

Janet had come charging into the kitchen, "I don't believe him. I don't believe him!" She huffed, not registering that Jack was massaging a reddening cheek.

"Why don't you believe him?" he asked through the pain.

Janet spun around putting a hand on her hip. "Apparently, Phillip doesn't see the point in getting married in a church!"

"He what?"

"Yeah! I can't _believe_ him." She began to pace the kitchen, hands balled into fists. "He's adamant about it too! He absolutely doesn't want to have a church wedding! Can you believe that?"

"N-no I can't." the pain in his face was alleviating as he realized that Janet was angry at Phillip. "Why don't you sit down, Janet." he took her gently by the shoulders and ushered her into the one chair not covered in flour.

Janet seemed to deflate once she took a seat. But as she was about to say something else, Phillip knocked on the kitchen door.

Jack looked at Janet, but she made no vocal acknowledgement that she heard anything. "Uh, it's open." he called out. He couldn't help being a little amused despite Janet's upset. He couldn't remember anyone knocking on that swinging door in all his years living there.

Phillip slowly stepped into the room, looking even more out of place in his neat, proper suit in the mess of the kitchen. He look flustered, his cheeks a dull pink, but he remained standing. "Janet, I think I'm going to head home now, it's getting late."

"Oh, sure just leave instead of resolving this problem." Janet sneered from her chair.

"I'm not leaving to get out of anything here, I just have an early day at work tomorrow and I figure it would be for the best if we both slept on it and discussed the situation with clear heads." He said stiffly.

Jack tried to make himself as invisible as possible to give the two their privacy but he could only lean against the sink and watch the exchange silently.

"Fine, goodbye." Janet answered, looking furious at the kitchen table.

For a second it looked like Phillip was going to make a step towards Janet, but changed his mind. "Goodnight, Janet." He turned to Jack and gave him a thin lipped smile. "Jack." He nodded.

"See ya, Phil." Jack waved.

The two roommates remained in the kitchen, letting Phillip see himself out of the apartment. Once they heard the front door close, Janet let out a long exasperated groan, putting a hand to her temple.

"This is great. Just great. You know, he's got another thing coming to him if he thinks I'm going to give up a church wedding!" She seemed to explode with words. "Do you know what he suggested, Jack? City Hall! City. Hall." She glared at Jack as if he were the one to suggest the idea.

"Gee, what's the point of all of this planning if he's just gonna pull out the city hall card?" Jack asked.

"Oh, funny you would ask that. See, I asked the same thing. But he said he wasn't planning on it being a big thing in the first place and that he just figured I'd want to do something quick and easy. Apparently he thinks church weddings are too much of a fuss."

"So he wants you to plan a little city hall wedding? How is that gonna work?"

"We are _not_ having a city hall wedding."

He had to hand it to her for holding her ground. "What happens tomorrow then? When you have your talk, after you've slept on it?"

"Um, I talk him into doing the church wedding." Janet said as if the answer was obvious.

"Well what happens if he doesn't budge on it though?"

"Jack, I'm pretty sure I can sway him. It's not as though money is an issue for him." Janet revealed confidently. "Besides, I'll remind him that this has been a dream of mine for as long as I can remember. And that if he doesn't want to start off this marriage on the wrong foot then he'll let me have this."

"W-would that be a deal-breaker for you? If he doesn't let up?"

Janet rolled her eyes. "He will, don't worry." She got up to leave the kitchen but turned around when she reached the door and opened her mouth to speak, but shut it again.

"You alright, Janet?"

"Oh, yeah. I'm totally fine. I just… wanted to ask you about something."

Jack's stomach swooped readying himself to talk about what had happened earlier. "Sure. Okay, okay. Go ahead and ask." He said quickly but spoke again just as Janet was about to start. "But, Janet. Let me just say that I agree. No matter what, you are my best friend and nothing could ever change that."

"Uh, okay. Good to know."

"But go ahead, I'll let you ask what you need to ask and I promise I'll be completely honest." He said sincerely.

"Well, Phillip and I were just wondering whether you'd be willing to cater the reception for the wedding?"

"You know, Janet, I honestly don't know when exactly I-" He stopped the second he computed what she'd actually said. "C-Cater the reception? You want me to cater the reception?"

"Yeah. What did you think I was going to ask you?" They both looked very puzzled by the other person.

"I uh- thought you were going to ask me if you could have some cookies." Was Jack's bad attempt at a recovery.

"Oh."

"Yeah. Um, you can't have any."

"I didn't ask for any but okay."

"Right."

"So… Do you want to take a little time to think about it?"

"Think about what?"

"Catering the reception."

"Oh… that."

Janet could sense his hesitancy. "You don't _have _to if you don't want to. It's going to be a lot of work and you don't really have that much time to get everything together. But Phillip said he'd pay you extra for all the trouble and last minute hassle if you do end up doing it." She explained quickly.

"You don't have to pay me, Janet. I'd be happy to do it." _What _were these words coming out of his mouth?

"Don't be silly. Of course, we'll pay you!"

"Ah."

"But you'll do it?" Her eyes were bright with excitement rather than full of the anger they had just minutes ago.

Not knowing what else to say, Jack replied, "Sure, I'll do it. Anything for you."

"Oh, Jack. Thank you!" Janet rushed over to him and showered his face with playful kisses, but put it to a halt and swatted at his puckered lips when he enthusiastically tried to return the gesture. "This is such a relief. There's one less thing to stress over."

"Happy to be of service."

"Gosh, it's so late, I really need to get to bed." She looked around the kitchen. "How much more baking do you have to get done?"

"Huh? Oh! Uh, probably a few more cakes and I'll be all caught up." He made up on the spot.

"Make sure you don't stay up all night, you need to get your sleep too. And don't leave the kitchen a disaster either!" Janet commanded before giving him a goodnight kiss.

"Yes, dear."

"Goodnight, Jack."

"Night."

The second Janet left the kitchen, Jack sank down in a chair, mentally kicking himself. He groaned and got up to start working on yet another cake.


	4. Chapter 4: Nearly Four in the Morning

Notes: Shocking that I'm updating so soon lol. This chapter is shorter than the others have been, but it was originally supposed to be part of chapter 3. It's not super eventful, just some talking after what happened in the last chapter, but I didn't want to get rid of it! I guess it's a little something extra, a P.S. to chapter 3 if you will.

Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 4: It's Nearly Four in the Morning**

It was nearly four in the morning by the time Terri returned to the apartment. She was planning on grabbing a snack before heading off to bed and was surprised to see the strip of light under the kitchen door glowing in the dark living room. She usually didn't have to share the kitchen at this time of night, or rather, morning.

"Jack, what are you doing?" Terri's voice startled Jack so much he dropped an egg he was about to crack right into the sink.

He turned around, clutching his chest and spoke in a strained whisper. "Do you have any idea what time it is? You scared me half to death!"

"Yeah, and so did the sight of this kitchen. Look at this place!"

She was right. The mess from earlier seemed to have doubled, mostly thanks to Jack accidentally turning the electric mixer on without having a steady grip on the bowl. He had tried to clean it all up, but Terri was gawking at some chocolate sauce splattered on the wall.

"Seriously, did Janet talk you into catering the reception? What gives?"

"Well, funny you should ask that." Jack answered feebly, wiping his hands on his dirtied apron.

Terri was dumbfounded. "You're kidding me."

"What was I supposed to say? No?" Jack asked defensively. "Sorry, Janet. Can't cater your wedding. I'll be busy that day!"

"Is she getting married _tomorrow_?" Terri waved her arms at the large assortment of cakes and cookies that filled the kitchen.

"Oh, no. Phillip was here and they were being too lovey dovey in the living room. I had to get out of there, so I told her I had to make desserts for the Bistro. "

"And she bought that?"

"That's not the point. Listen, she and Phillip got into this big fight about where they want to have the wedding." He let out an excited squeak.

Terri's surprise turned into relieved joy in an instant. "Really? What happened? Did they call it off?"

"Oh. Well, we didn't get _that_ lucky." Terri's expression fell. "But you know Janet. She sounded pretty adamant about having a church wedding. We just have to hope that Phillip is as stubborn as she is and stands his ground."

Again, the expression on Terri's face changed, this time to one of doubt.

"What?"

"Phillip doesn't strike me as the type to be as stubborn as our Janet."

"God, I wish you weren't right about that." The thought had briefly crossed his mind at some point in the night, but he had chosen to ignore it because believing in Janet and Phillip's stubbornness meant that he wouldn't have to go through the trouble of single-handedly breaking up an engagement, and frankly, that was a daunting task he didn't want to have to do if the couple could do it themselves.

Terri sighed. "When did he leave?"

"I don't know, around 10, 10:30 maybe."

The blonde kept looking at him expectantly.

"What?"

"You didn't talk to her, did you?"

"I _did_ talk to her."

"About your feelings?" Terri asked pointedly.

It took a few seconds for Jack's mouth to start forming words. "Sort of."

"What do you mean 'sort of'? Either you did or you didn't."

"I really wish you'd stop talking about this like it's so easy. You don't know what this is like!"

"No, you're right. I've never been in the unfortunate, though totally preventable position you're in right now." Terri stated with no sympathy.

"Well, for your information, I _did _talk about my feelings, or at least I started to, but then Phillip walked through the door and ruined everything."

"Really?" Terri was actually quite impressed. "What did you say?" She asked curiously.

Jack looked embarrassed. "Come on, Terri. That's private."

"Do you want my help or not?" The blonde rolled her eyes. "You can't just pick and choose when you want to let me in on this stuff now."

He squirmed on the spot. He knew she was right but he still felt weird talking about the weirdly vulnerable conversation he had with Janet when Terri wasn't exactly being sensitive about all of this.

Terri waved a hand in his face. "Hello? Can we hurry this up? I've been awake for almost 24 hours now and I'd love to eat some food and go to sleep."

"Okay, fine. But just know that we didn't really… say things like… upfront. I'm not even totally sure she got what I was trying to say."

Sensing that this might be an involved conversation, Terri took a seat. "Go on."

"Well, I kind of eased into it by saying that I was upset about her leaving and moving on and stuff and then she kind of turned that into how you shouldn't keep looking for things in places you're not going to find them."

"What?"

Jack put his hands up. "That's what she said! Why would she say that? I mean, what am I supposed to think about that? "

"What is that even supposed to mean?" She wasn't sure if Jack just wasn't retelling it right or if her need for sleep was making it hard to make sense of things.

Jack sat down in one of the chairs still covered in flour and spoke slowly, "She said that if you want to get the things you want in life you're not going to find them where there's no chance. That's how she ended up with Phillip I guess."

Terri closed her eyes, trying to clarify what this meant. "So… the place she has no chance is supposed to be?"

Jack leaned forward. "I think- I think she meant around here, like… with me?"

The blonde's eyes opened and she raised her eyebrows. "Really?" Of course, she knew that's likely how Janet felt, but to hear that she had actually said it out loud and to Jack's face (though in a weird, indirect way) was surprising to her.

"I mean, it sounds kind of impossible when I say it." Jack hurried, worried that Terri might laugh at his bold assumption that Janet could possibly be talking about looking for something more in him. "It's one of those things where you had to be there, you know, sitting next to each other, looking into her eyes, that kind of thing."

"Sure, I get it. But it makes sense."

"You think so?" Jack's voice was hushed.

"Well, I'll just choose to believe that it makes sense since I wasn't there. But if you really do think she was talking about you, that's good!"

"Yeah, it sure is."

Terri reached for a cookie on a cooling rack in front of her. "So what happened after that?"

Jack's face fell a bit. "She said that her getting married wasn't going to change anything between us, that I'd understand when I found my own special someone.

"Ouch."

"You're telling me! But I tried to steer things back to the whole looking thing she was saying and I asked her what she'd do if she, you know, _could _find what she was looking for where she's already been looking. You know, I was really about to get into it and maybe tell her, but then bam." He lightly smacked the table for effect. "In walked Phillip."

"Oh no. Talk about bad timing!"

"Yeah. Now I don't know what to do."

"Just talk to her again, pick up where you left off." Terri said through a mouthful of cookie.

Jack put a hand to his temple. "But how am I supposed to do that? It really took a lot out of me just getting that far! Plus after that, she acted like nothing happened! Hell, she even asked me to be her caterer!" He looked exhausted.

"You're going to have to put in the work if you actually want to stop this wedding from happening. I don't know what else to tell you." Terri shrugged. "Janet's going to need a _really_ good reason to call things off with Phillip. She's not going to immediately dump him because you _hinted _that you want to be with her. You have to be more open with her."

"I'm _trying._ But these things are delicate! I can't just blurt it out."

"Well you better speed up this delicate process, buddy. I hear they've already gotten a caterer for the big day."

"Ha, ha, ha."

"I'm serious, Jack. You need to hurry up before they start spending money on a wedding that isn't going to happen." Terri pressed.

"I _know_ that, Terri. Didn't I say I was trying? It's only been a few hours."

"Why are you still up baking, anyways?"

"I need to be doing something while I think." He explained as he went over to the oven to check on the most recent batch of cookies.

"So… what are you going to do about this catering thing?"

Jack massaged his neck as he said, "Oh, I don't even want to think about that right now. I have so much on my plate."

Terri suppressed a laugh at this. "So you don't have anything planned for tomorrow when Janet will most likely come up to you all excited to work on putting together a menu?"

"The way you can't just let me ignore things I have to do is just cruel, Terri."

"Just being realistic." Terri simpered before biting into another cookie.

"Realistic and enjoying this way too much." Jack grumbled. "What do you think I should say to that though? You really think she's gonna want to get started tomorrow?"

"Jack, she's scheduled to be out of here by the end of the month, her parents will be here next week, and she only waited to start planning one whole day after she got engaged. What do you expect?"

Jack thought for a moment. "Well, maybe this could be a good thing, me having this responsibility."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah! I mean, hey, maybe Phillip has some kind of food allergy. We could use that to our advantage."

"Jack, I can't believe I actually have to say this to you, but we can't kill Phillip. As much as that would solve your problem, I'm not going to jail because of you and your stupid ideas."

"Okay, I wasn't thinking about murder… just, I don't know, putting him in the hospital long enough for me to get some time to talk to Janet without him interrupting."

Terri stood up to look him in the eye. "I hope you hear the things you say when you speak. You need to go to sleep, this is making you crazy."

"I have good ideas sometimes."

She rolled her eyes and grabbed one more cookie. "Right. Well. Good update I guess. Fingers crossed that Phillip stands his ground, for your sake."

"Roger that."

"But I wouldn't count on it."

Jack replied with a fake smile.

"And have fun cleaning the kitchen." She smirked at the mess before leaving the room.

"Delightfully, Terrance, delightfully."

Terri moved quietly through the living room. She had long since mastered the art of silently opening and closing the bedroom door so as not to disturb Janet's sleep. But when she opened the door, Janet was very much awake with her lamp on and an unattended book open on her lap.

"Janet, what are you still doing up? It's nearly four in the morning."

"I can't sleep." Janet replied. "Phillip and I got into this big fight." She took off the unused reading glasses she had been wearing.

Terri took a seat on her bed to take her shoes off. "Oh, I'm sorry. What did you fight about?" She asked dutifully, forever a pro at pretending to not know about the goings on in the apartment.

Janet, more than willing to share, sat up straighter. "He said he would rather we got married at city hall than in a church!"

Terri couldn't contain the distaste that overtook her voice. "City hall?" Jack hadn't told her about that.

"I know, right?" Janet appreciated Terri's instant disgust. "I mean, sure we wanted to get married fast so we could honeymoon in Greece while Phillip's on business there, but _city hall_..."

"Wait, so you're honeymooning in Greece, going to have the time of your life for a whole month there, but you're getting married at city hall?"

"We are _not_ getting married at city hall."

"Obviously not. But I mean, what are you going to do about this?" Terri truly felt more like a spy than simply the third roommate to Jack and Janet's drama.

Janet sighed, "Well, at first I was planning on just not budging on it and threatening to cancel the whole thing altogether. But I've had a few hours to think about it and I think it makes much more sense to just compromise, you know?"

Terri answered with a noncommittal nod.

"So something in between a church and city hall doesn't sound like the worst thing in the world, I guess."

"Oh but, Janet! You've been talking about how much you've dreamed of a church wedding since before you even met Phillip!" Terri reminded her sadly.

"I know, I know. But where the wedding takes place isn't the most important thing, right?"

Terri didn't look convinced. "Couldn't you just book the church and pay extra for the last minute hassle?"

Janet's smile was tired. "Oh, I already tried that one. I think it's just better to try something a bit smaller than a church. I feel so bad though. I wish I could call him, but there's no way he'd be awake right now." She ran a hand through her dark hair. "Oh, and listen, Terri, I'm sorry for getting so angry with you earlier. I don't know what got into me."

"Oh no, don't worry about it. I overstepped. _I'm_ sorry. This is your wedding. You're the one running the show, not me."

Janet smiled at her friend's apology. "I was thinking up a list of a few places that might be good to have a wedding before you came in. Would you want to come with me tomorrow to check some of them out? Phillip's gonna be working all day and I'll be done at noon. It's your day off, right?"

Terri was thrown off by this invitation. "Yes. Yes, it is my day off."

"Did you make other plans?" Janet clearly noticed her hesitation.

Too tired to think of something better, Terri answered truthfully, "Just that I was going to be sleeping until noon."

"Perfect! I can swing by and pick you up after work!"

"That… sure is something you can do."

Janet's face lit up. "Great! I'm gonna try and come up with some more ideas while I'm at work tomorrow. If you think of anything, let me know!"

"Definitely." Terri responded, fully intending to not do that. "Hey, do you think Jack would want to tag along?"

"Oh, I'm sure he would, but I think he has to be at the restaurant all day." Janet answered, settling more comfortably under her blankets.

"Damn." Terri whispered.

"I can ask him in the morning before I head off to work just to make sure." Janet offered with a chuckle.

"Oh! Yes! Do that!" Terri said over excitedly. Maybe something good _could_ come out of having to tag along on Janet's wedding planning adventures if Jack was to be there too. Any chance to get those two talking alone so they could be over with this, even if she had to go hide behind a tree or a bush.

"Okay, I will." Janet laughed again.


	5. Chapter 5: Everything is Totally Fine

Note: Back with another chapter! Um! Jack and Janet are both messes! I hope you enjoy it though lol.

* * *

**Chapter 5: Everything is Totally Fine and Nothing is Wrong **

As promised, Janet was off work at noon, picked up Terri from their apartment, and swung by Jack's Bistro to pick up its namesake to look at a few wedding venues for a couple of hours before dropping him back off at work.

Currently, the trio was on their way to the second location on Janet's list, having already visited a park with a hidden little path that led to a gazebo with a literal babbling brook nearby. Janet was feeling quite upbeat and certain that she'd have a lot of great options to share with Phillip later. Then they could move past their little tiff from the night before and go back to the way things were and everything would be perfectly fine again. In fact, she was so set on finding the area to be the perfect spot and taking pictures of every inch of the park to show Phillip later on, that she barely seemed to take notice of Jack and Terri's lack of any valuable input.

The scene in the car was a bit more awkward though. Janet was quite chipper, and her roommates couldn't tell if she was being oblivious or just choosing to ignore how quiet Jack and Terri still were. She was at the wheel of her car, talking their ears off about some of the other locations she had in mind. Terri resided in the passenger's seat, sipping coffee from a travel mug, switching between radio stations every few minutes, and 'ooing' and 'ahhing' whenever there was a pause in Janet's chatter. Jack was stuck in the backseat by himself, making no noise, and watching Janet's face in the rear view mirror, forcing his own face into a smile whenever the reflection of Janet's eyes caught his.

By the time he had put a rest to the baking and finished making the kitchen look pristine the night before, he only had time to get an hour of sleep before his alarm clock told him to get ready for work. He ran into Janet on her way out of the apartment and he was so groggy that he instantly accepted her request to maybe leave work in the middle of the day to join her and Terri in scouting out some wedding venues, leaving him to scramble and find someone who could come in and watch over the bistro for him at the last minute.

And here he was on his way to some botanical garden at UCLA that Janet couldn't stop raving about even though she'd never been there a day in her life, unable to even exchange a glance with Terri and send a telepathic message to her asking why the hell she gave Janet the brilliant idea of inviting him to tag along, because she was so busy messing with that damn radio and giving him a headache.

"Would you just pick a station and leave it there?" Jack finally snapped at the blonde.

Terri turned around in her seat to glare at him. "I was just avoiding the commercial breaks, excuse me." But she did stop switching between stations and let the current one announce the next song, "Is There Something I Should Know?" by Duran Duran.

Surprisingly, Janet didn't comment on the snippy attitudes in the car with her and instead continued talking about everything and nothing, like she was talking just for the sake of talking. Meanwhile, Jack was wishing Terri would change the radio station one more time as the band sang quietly in the background of Janet's mindless rambling, "_Is there something I should know? Is there something I should say, that would make you come my way? Do you feel the same? 'Cause you don't let it show."_

He rested his head against the window wishing this was all just a terribly long and detailed dream he was having.

Janet finally pulled into a parking area that led to one of the garden's entrances. "Oh, isn't this lovely?" Janet cooed as everyone unbuckled their seatbelts.

"It sure is." Terri voiced before Jack kicked the back of her seat. "Hey!"

"Sorry. My foot must've slipped."

"Hurry up, guys! I want to see as many places as possible today!" Janet urged, already outside of the car and snapping pictures for Phillip.

Unfortunately for Jack, the girls were right. He could already see that the garden was beautiful even from the parking lot, and he knew it was just the kind of place Janet would love.

"Nice going telling Janet to ask me to come with you guys." Jack said in a low voice to Terri as Janet outwalked them by a few feet. "You really just want to torture me, huh?"

Terri, who had just slipped on some sunglasses, let the accessory fall down the bridge of her nose so he could get the full effect of her glare once again. "Excuse me for trying to help you be alone with Janet. So sorry I couldn't arrange a romantic dinner date for just the two of you." She pushed her sunglasses back up her face.

"What am I supposed to do _here _though?" Jack hissed, just dodging a low-hanging tree branch that Janet had walked under with no problem. "We're helping her pick out a spot to throw her wedding!"

"Find something wrong with it." Terri replied. "Which is what you should have done when we were at the park."

Jack was about to point out that Terri hadn't been very vocal at the park either, but Janet spoke up ahead of them. "What do you guys think so far? I can't wait to get further in and really see what it looks like on the inside." She truly looked to be in her element.

Terri just smiled and took a big swing of coffee so she wouldn't have to say anything, leaving Jack to mumble, "It's okay, I guess."

Janet laughed. "Just okay? This place is beyond beautiful, even just from the outside. I can't believe I never thought about this before!" She swung back around and quickened her pace.

Jack looked at Terri and pointed a hand in Janet's direction. "She's not gonna find anything wrong with this place, Terri. Real smart of you letting her come here."

The blonde's mouth dropped open at this accusation. "She came up with all the locations herself. In fact, she asked me to come up with some ideas of places and I _didn't._"

"You are such a big help." Jack's voice was dripping with sarcasm.

"This is your wedding to stop, not mine. So you can quit being so ungrateful and pick up the slack."

Jack looked ready to make another snippy comment, but Janet's voice brought him to his senses. "Would you two hurry up?"

Once Jack and Terri finally caught up with Janet's pace, they had made their way to the actual entrance of the garden. Jack heard Terri whisper, "Woah." and his heart sank a bit. Birds were singing cheerfully, setting quite the pleasant tone to the already picturesque area. Janet had already stuck up a conversation with someone who seemed to work in the garden.

With trees swooping over their heads and providing some shade from the afternoon sun, Terri moved her sunglasses to rest on top of her head and she made to start walking around. Jack, however, grabbed her shoulder before she could get away.

"Just what do you think you're doing?" He asked accusingly.

"Relax. I'm just having a look around."

"You're gonna have a look around? I thought we weren't getting involved!"

Terri rolled her eyes. "What are we supposed to do? Stand around and say nothing?"

"Uh, yeah." Jack answered as if it were so obvious.

"Look, we somehow managed to get away with that at the park, but I think she's gonna notice us not talking eventually."

Jack frowned. "Well then we can worry about crossing that bridge when we get to it. Until then, we keep doing this no talking thing."

"So what are we going to say when Janet asks what we think about the place? Or the next one? Or the one after that?"

"We just say we don't like it. It's very simple."

"Isn't that what I just said a few minutes ago?"

As if on cue, Janet bounded over to her roommates after her quick chat with the person manning the entrance. "So? What do you two think?"

"Uh…" Terri began, but instead of saying something coherent she took a long sip of coffee to avoid talking again.

"What do we think?" Jack asked innocently.

"Yeah! Don't you like it?"

"Do I like it? _Do_ I like it? Well, now I don't know exactly."

Janet's face fell a small fraction as she looked between her friends. "What do you mean? You don't think it's nice?"

Terri pretended to choke on her coffee so she could clear her throat and prolong avoiding Janet's questions. Unfortunately for Jack, Terri was not as sympathetic to his wild looks to her for assistance as Janet would've been, had she been in Terri's position.

Jack jutted his chin out having to make something up on the fly. "Well, sure it's _nice_, but I mean, do you really want to get married where automatic sprinklers might go off in the middle of the ceremony?"

"Somehow I don't think that's going to be as big of a problem as you seem to think." Janet chuckled. "I'm sure we can ask them to cut off the water for a little bit until the ceremony is over."

"And deprive the plants of water? Their life source?"

"Jack, I'm sure the plants will be fine without water for maybe an hour."

"Speaking of water, I'm going to see if I can find some for myself." Terri chimed in.

"Okay, Terri." Janet answered. "You have to be more careful about eating and drinking too fast."

"Yeah, yeah." Terri waved a hand and headed off down one of the paths to give the two their privacy, with no intention of finding drinking water.

Jack and Janet turned back to each other and Janet smiled. "Tell you what. We'll make sure that we get this thing over with in between waterings, so the plants won't have to go without. Does that make you feel better?"

Janet, who was expecting a smile or another playful joke back in return, was disappointed to see Jack wincing at her. "Gee, Jack. What is with you?"

"Nothing." Jack said once again oh so innocently, not quite catching on to the hint that Terri's leaving meant.

"Then why do you suddenly care so much about the well-being of plantlife?"

"We should all care about plants, Janet. You're always talking about that."

"Yeah, which is why I know the plants will be okay with Phillip and me getting married here. Plus, I'm gonna bet that these ones are well taken care of and will be freshly watered before and after the ceremony."

"She's right about that!" The man Janet had talked to said from his post.

Jack looked annoyed at the guy but Janet appreciated the confirmation. "See?"

"Alright, I guess."

"You guess?"

Jack sighed. "Where are you going to have the reception though? Did you think about that?"

"No, not really. Not yet at least. But it's one step at a time, right?"

"I mean it's not like you could have it at a dump like this."

Janet put her hands on her hips. "A _dump_? And why is that?"

He looked around, pretending there was something inherently wrong with the garden, eyes avoiding the stare from the employee who looked scandalized he had called the place a dump. "Okay, sure you could have it here if you don't mind dinner being dive-bombed by all these birds. And don't even get me started on squirrels running across the tables."

"Okay, okay. So we'll find somewhere indoors to hold the reception. It's no big deal." Janet shrugged, though she was having a hard time pretending he wasn't putting a damper on things.

"Sure, sure." Jack stuck his hands in his pockets with an unconvinced air.

"What? You don't think I can find a place?"

Jack took his turn to shrug at her.

"What's this," She shrugged back at him. "Supposed to mean?"

"Nothing." He was looking at the ground now, suddenly finding it very interesting.

"Well, I think I did a pretty good job of coming up with a good list of places overnight, it's not like I can't come up with some more ideas for the reception."

Jack didn't answer her and instead lightly kicked a pebble towards a tree.

Janet exhaled. "Why are you acting like this?"

"Like what?"

"You know very well like what."

Jack crossed his arms. "No I don't!"

"Then would you care to explain why you're staring at your feet like a five year old while I'm trying to have a conversation with you?"

"There was a rock." He was very uncomfortable and wished someone would come to his aid and put an end to the conversation for him. Maybe if he tried to climb up a tree, he'd be escorted out of the garden...

"Jack."

"What, Janet?"

"Would you look at me when I'm talking to you?"

He tore his eyes away from the dirt to look at Janet's expectant face.

"What's the deal?"

"Nothing!"

"Why are you acting like this?"

"Like what?"

"So _weird_! Half like you're some judge of a wedding contest and half like you don't care about anything at all."

"So?"

"So? _So_, if you were going to be acting like this, why did you agree to come along in the first place?"

"I don't think I need to remind you that I was up all night baking? I'm just exhausted, that's all."

"Jack, I've seen you when you haven't gotten sleep before, and you definitely don't act like this."

"What do I act like then?"

"Like a grumpy toddler."

She half hoped this would make him laugh and get him out of this funk but to no avail.

"I don't know what to tell you, Janet."

"Tell me what's bothering you!" She was exasperated. This was supposed to be a fun thing to do with her roommates, and here Jack was taking all the joy out of it. She didn't even have Terri there to back her up that Jack was being ridiculous.

Jack opened his mouth and thought he was going to say it, but chickened out the second he became aware of himself. "Nothing is bothering me, Janet."

"Okay, I'm getting real sick of hearing that word."

"What word?"

"Nothing. Nothing's wrong. Nothing is going on with you. Nothing. That clearly isn't the case." She waved her hands around in the air.

Even though the conversation had now moved on to Jack's behavior, he was still desperately set on trying to find anything wrong with the wedding situation without incriminating himself. "What are we even doing here, Janet? I thought you wanted your church wedding. You got into this huge fight with Phillip and said you were going to make sure you got what you wanted!"

"I changed my mind." Janet stated simply, preparing herself to turn the subject back to his attitude at her first opening.

"You just changed your mind. After that big scene you caused last night, you just changed your mind? Suddenly the big beautiful wedding at that old church by the apartment just goes out the window?" Jack asked incredulously.

"No, it didn't just go out the window. I sat and thought it over for a long time." She explained. "And like an _adult,_ I realized that this isn't just my wedding. Phillip's allowed to have some feelings about how it happens too."

"Then why isn't he even here?"

"Uh, because he's at work?" Janet said. "I told you that this morning. That's why I have the camera."

"Okay, then how do you even know if Phillip would want to throw the wedding here?" Jack pointed out. "Did you even tell him you were going to all this trouble while he's at work looking at paintings or something?"

"Actually, I was going to call him after he gets home from work and surprise him with all of the ideas and then show him all the pictures I'm taking, you know, to show that I'm taking his opinion into consideration." Janet frowned. "And he doesn't just sit around and look at paintings all day." She added frostily.

"What if he actually just wants to have the wedding at city hall like he said last night?"

Janet couldn't believe he was saying this. "Why are you so set on things going wrong?"

"I'm not! I just want to make sure you're thinking about everything that could happen! I don't want to see you wasting your time!"

"Wasting my time?" Boy, if looks could kill.

"Yes! Wasting your time running around trying to put together a wedding that maybe Phillip doesn't want to have!"

The pair's voices were rising steadily and they were getting odd looks from passersby.

"This might sound crazy, but I think I would know a bit more about what Phillip likes and dislikes than you do, Jack!"

Jack raised his eyebrows. "You sounded pretty shocked to find out he didn't want a church wedding."

Janet's eyes widened and for a moment she was at a loss for words at his response but she managed to fire at him, "What the hell is your problem?"

"My problem? My problem is that this is all wrong, Janet!"

"This is _wrong_?"

"Yes!"

"And why do you think that?" She demanded.

'_Because you shouldn't be getting married to Phillip at all! Because I love you!' _Were just a couple of things that were begging to escape his lips. But he couldn't do it like this. Not with her ready to kill him.

Unfortunately, something else came out of his mouth, something that was only going to make Janet angrier, but he was on a roll. "This isn't how your wedding should be happening! You shouldn't have to be the one doing all of the heavy-lifting!"

"Jack, how many times do I have to tell you? Phillip is at work."

"Yeah! And the last time you two talked, you were furious at each other! I can't believe you're going through with all of this extra planning and you haven't even patched things up with him!"

Janet's face was reddening out of anger. "Well, if you haven't noticed, this is my relationship, not yours. I can handle it how I see fit."

"Did you forget how upset you were last night? Why are you just acting like everything is fine? Why can't you just admit that things aren't going the way you want them to?"

Janet huffed. "You're one to talk!"

"Excuse me?"

Terri, who was admiring a vibrant display of purple flowers far down the path she had taken, could hear two people arguing, and unfortunately, those two voices sounded very familiar. "Ugh." She muttered to herself before turning back around towards the direction of the shouting match. She didn't know why she expected any progress to be made, here of all places.

As she drew nearer to the spot she had left Jack and Janet, readying herself to break up their argument, she saw that someone was already giving them a stern talking to.

"I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to ask the two of you to leave. We have a strict rule about noise level when students are here trying to learn." The garden employee informed them.

Jack and Janet both looked ready to argue with the employee as well, but Terri managed to speak before they did. "We are _so_ sorry for this. Don't know what has gotten into these two." She chuckled, taking each of her roommates by the arm. "We'll just be going now. Beautiful place you have here!" She said, flashing him a dazzling smile before steering them out of the entrance.

"Terri." Janet yanked her arm out of the blonde's grasp. "What did you do that for? I wasn't finished looking around!"

"Yeah, you sure were taking in a lot of the sights by standing in the same spot and arguing with this one for 10 minutes." Terri cocked her head towards Jack. "Seriously, guys. You need to remember that the general public isn't used to your nonsense." She hoped her light tone would rub off on her roommates and calm them down. "So where to next?"

"You know, I actually think I need to get back to the bistro. Felipe said he could only stay until two." Jack remarked, glancing at his wrist where no watch rested.

Janet scoffed, which made Jack and Terri turn to look questioningly at her. "You're going to make me drive all the way back to the bistro when we haven't even checked out half of the venues?"

Jack glared at her. "Oh, I'm sorry that I took time out of my work day to come and look at these stupid places at the very last minute. It's not like I have other responsibilities or anything."

"You know, you could have said no, Jack. No one was forcing you to come along, especially if you were going to point out everything wrong about everything I spent hours thinking over!"

The two were back to shouting at each other with Terri stuck in between them as they walked back to the car. She smiled apologetically at the college students gawking at the two grown adults making their business known to everyone around them.

"You know what? Fine. I'll just take the bus back to work. Do either of you have any bus money I could borrow?"

Janet simply crossed her arms and stared off to the side, pretending she hadn't heard Jack's request. Terri sighed and dug in her purse for some change, dropping it into Jack's waiting hand before muttering, "Idiot."

Jack looked briefly offended by her remark but said in a dejected voice, "See you guys later." And he stalked off to find the nearest bus stop.

"You shouldn't have given him the money." Janet huffed as she and Terri continued marching to her car. "Let him walk back." She sneered.

Terri didn't acknowledge this. "So what was all that about?"

"Just Jack being a big jerk. What else is new?"

"What do you mean?"

"He's acting like I haven't thought things through myself!"

Terri decided to tread lightly. She didn't want to lose her ride in Janet's car and Jack just walked away with the rest of her bus money. "What did he say?"

"He kept asking where Phillip was!" Janet half shouted at her roommate. "I don't know how many times I have to tell him that he's at work!"

"Oh."

"Yeah! He kept going on about how I'm doing this all alone. He thinks he knows my relationship with Phillip more than I do." They had reached the car at this point and every movement Janet was making was done with extra force. Once they sat down Terri watched her silently with wide eyes as Janet yanked her seat belt and fastened it with an angry click, and forced the key into the ignition with that same anger. As the car came to life so did the radio, which was halfway through Hall & Oates' "Say It Isn't So". It played throughout the vehicle for a few moments telling Janet, "_But if I'm faced with being replaced I want you even more,"_ before she snapped the radio off with an annoyed tsk. Terri was starting to think it might have been better to be stranded at the garden and beg for money from random college students than to be stuck in a car with a pissed off Janet at the wheel.

...

Fortunately, the girls made it back to the apartment without incident, though Janet was still fuming. The 20 minute ride had been one of the longest car rides of Terri's life, as Janet drove in total silence and Terri hadn't been willing to risk turning the radio back on, and didn't dare ask if they were going to check out the other places that were on Janet's list. But she was relieved when she realized Janet was driving them home instead of to another random park or to the beach.

Janet very sullenly stomped up the steps to the apartment, ignoring the fact that she was being rude to Terri, who was doing her best to keep up a few steps behind.

Once they got inside, Janet made a beeline for their bedroom and shut the door with purpose, leaving Terri to reside in the living room for the time being.

In her bedroom, Janet sort of carelessly tossed the camera onto the end of her bed before plopping herself onto it. She looked at the ceiling as if it would provide her any comfort. She hated Jack. She hated his sour attitude and how he had to bring everyone down to his level. She hated that he ruined her entire day. He was such a _brat._ She couldn't believe he had said those things. She couldn't understand why he was in such a mood.

Her mind instantly went to their conversation last night. It couldn't be about that, right? She had thought they had cleared that up. Actually, yes they had. Besides, he wasn't acting like he was the night before. Last night he had seemed so… sad? And he definitely wasn't sad today. He was aloof and totally irritating. Something was off. Something she had done evidently, but she didn't know _what_.

A small voice in the back of her mind was reminding her about what they had been talking about right before Phillip had come by the apartment last night, and the look on Jack's face, and how her heart fluttered looking into his eyes. And that stupid question!

"_How would you feel if you could find things in the places you've been looking? What if they're right there?"_

Why did he have to ask that? She hadn't slept a wink last night. And when Terri had gotten ready for bed and asked Janet if she was planning on getting any sleep before work, she told her that she was too excited about ideas for the wedding, which was true. Partly. She had sat up in bed scribbling into her notebook until Terri had turned off her lamp, at which point she also turned off her own lamp out of courtesy to the nurse's need for sleep.

In truth, she had spent the remaining hours before she had to get ready for work in a totally frazzled state, half buzzing with ideas for where to hold the ceremony, and half trying very hard not to ponder over what Jack's question had meant.

She covered her face with her hands. This was because she had to go and shoot her mouth off trying to be a good friend, and she had let that stupid comment slip. She had hoped that she was being vague enough that he wouldn't understand, and yet…

'_No.' _She almost said the word out loud in the quiet of the bedroom. No. She had long since accepted that she and Jack couldn't be anything more than friends.

She had definitely had a little crush on him when he had first moved in a lifetime ago. And maybe somewhere along the way it had turned into something more for her. And maybe she loved him so very dearly now but knew that anything that was more than platonic with her roommate shouldn't happen. She'd probably just go and get her heart broken and lose her best friend, which would be breaking her heart twice over in one go. This of course was all assuming there was a world where he thought about her in that way, though she was quite certain he didn't.

But then what was his question supposed to mean? If he had in fact understood her correctly, then wouldn't that mean _his _question was asking her to keep looking where she had looked before?

God, how bold of her to assume he felt for her like she did for him. He had a thing for every woman he met. And that was exactly why she had put that possibility out of her wildest dreams. She wasn't going to let herself sit and wait for something that wasn't going to happen. Maybe she was just reading too much into his words because she was hearing what she had wanted to hear for so long. Yeah, that had to be it. And even if somehow he _was_ in love with her… well then he needed to suck it up and just say it.

But then again, maybe he was just in a bad mood because she stuck him with planning an entire meal plan for her reception with barely any notice. She felt a pang of guilt at this and shook her head. If he was upset about that he should just tell her instead of doing whatever it was he was doing.

There was a light knock on the door before Terri revealed herself, putting an end to the tennis match going on in her head. "Hey."

"Hey." Janet sat up, realizing how overdramatic she probably looked strewn across her bed.

"You alright?" Terri asked softly, taking a seat on her own bed.

Janet let out a small chuckle. "Of course!"

Terri didn't look convinced.

"Okay, I'm very mad at Jack, yes. But I'm okay. He's made me mad plenty of times. This is nothing new."

"Oh, sure."

Janet picked up her camera and fiddled with it and Terri smoothed out a wrinkle on her bed and was the first one to break the silence. "Well, I think I'm gonna head into the living room and see if there's anything on TV." She stood up.

"Wait. Terri?"

"Yes?"

She had to ask a neutral party, otherwise Jack's words from the garden would be eating at her for the rest of the day until she spoke to Phillip. "Do you think I'm wasting my time?"

"What?"

"Jack said I was wasting my time doing all of this before patching things up with Phillip."

"Oh?"

"I mean, I was just trying to get a compromise ready so he knows I listened to his opinion. Is there something wrong with that?"

Terri considered. "Well, no. I guess there isn't."

"And it's not like I'd have been able to see him before tonight anyways, you know? He's busy at work. I was just saving us time by coming up with some more ideas!"

Terri pursed her lips for a moment. "Well, as long as you're doing what you think is right and what you _really_ want, then who cares what other people think. Do what makes you happy." Maybe those words would sink in a bit deeper than this trivial nonsense about who was or wasn't telling who about wedding locations.

"Right, yeah." Janet replied. She just wanted Terri to tell her she was right and Jack was wrong and wasn't expecting her to say something wise.

Suddenly Janet stood up. "I'm gonna call Phillip now, before you get settled with the TV. I hope you don't mind."

"Oh… of course not." Terri was confused. "I thought he was at work?"

"He is. I was just going to call his work phone number. This is just going to bug me if I don't talk to him now." She laughed.

Terri did her best to remain impassive. "Right. Please tell him I said hello."

"Will do."

"I'll just lay down and rest for a few minutes to give you some privacy. All of that running around earlier really took it out of me."

"Oh, okay! I won't be too long though, don't worry." And with that she was out of their bedroom and dialing Phillip's work number within seconds.

"Hello?" Phillip's voice came through the receiver.

"Phillip, it's me!"

"Janet." She could hear the caution in his voice. With all the commotion of Jack's scene and what not, her argument with Phillip seemed so long ago.

"How is work going?" Janet asked sweetly.

"Oh, alright. It's going to be a slow few weeks since we're just getting ready for the trip." He answered.

"Right, right." Janet nodded into the phone. She wasn't going to let Jack's words get into her head. "Phillip, I wanted to apologize for last night. You know, I was being really stubborn and wasn't seeing things from your perspective. This isn't just my wedding, it's _ours_. We should be willing to compromise on a few things here and there." The words spilled out of her mouth.

Phillip exhaled over the line. "Oh, I agree completely."

A hundred pound weight seemed to lift itself off of Janet's shoulders. "You do?" What a relief.

"Of course! I know i was pretty firm on no church wedding but I shouldn't have pushed the whole city hall thing so forcefully. I'm sure we can figure out a little place we can book on short notice."

"Actually, I went out and looked at a few places today." Janet said earnestly.

"You did?"

"Yeah! Listen, there are some really beautiful spots around here."

"Wow, that's amazing, Janet." Phillip said happily over the line.

Janet smiled into the phone. "Do you think I could come over to your place tonight? I took a bunch of pictures for you to look at. Then we could get back to getting some more concrete plans down."

"Sure! But I'm actually heading back home in a few minutes since it's been such a slow day. If you don't have anything else planned for the day, maybe you'd want to come over earlier than tonight?"

"I'd love to." Janet enthused.

"Great! Let me just pack up my briefcase and I'll be on my way out. Meet you in a little bit?"

"See you then, bye!"

Janet put the phone down and let out a long breath. Things with Phillip were totally fine. It was silly to let Jack spoil her mood by filling head her with doubts that were his, _not_ hers.

She sauntered over to her bedroom where she found Terri laying on her bed staring at the ceiling.

"I'm done with the phone if you want to use the TV now." Janet told her as she went to their closet. She opened it, taking out a small suitcase.

"Where are you going?" Terri asked, alarmed.

Janet walked over to her bed and placed the empty suitcase onto the blue comforter. She opened the two latches and turned to her dresser. "Phillip's getting off work early so he and I are gonna try and finish up the rest of the planning today. I'm bringing a change of clothes in case I'm there late and have to spend the night. He was totally okay with me visiting some places without him by the way. And he agreed compromising was a good idea. Whew!" She faked wiping sweat from her forehead.

"Oh." Terri voiced. "Great." Jack was never gonna get another minute with Janet alone at this rate. "When do you think you'll be back?" She tried her best at nonchalance.

"I'll be back in the morning at the latest, don't worry. Phillip has to be at work by nine."

"Ah. Well, have fun! Don't do anything I wouldn't do." Terri attempted to joke.

"With my fiance?" Janet chuckled.

"Ha ha ha. I'll just be getting out of your way now." Terri stood up. She didn't know if Jack was rubbing off on her, but the thought of Janet spending the night with Phillip made her want to retch just a little bit.

She turned for the door but hesitated once her hand touched the knob. She turned around and watched Janet as she was trying to decide between two nightgowns.

"Janet?"

"Yeah?" Janet said still looking between the pajamas.

"You're not still mad at Jack, are you?"

Janet dropped both gowns into the suitcase. "Of course I'm still mad at him."

Terri bit her lip. "Maybe you could talk to him before you head over to Phillip's? I'm sure he didn't mean to be so stupid."

Janet turned back to her dresser and opened another drawer. "Well, whether he meant to or not, I think it should be his job to come to me and apologize." She said coolly.

Terri looked on helplessly and watched Janet finish packing up her suitcase. She was out the door and cheerfully on her way to Phillip's place in under five minutes.


	6. Chapter 6: Clutter in the Kitchen

Note: Hello, again! Happy New Year! Sorry if this chapter is a little slow, but it's necessary after what happened last time (yikes), but things are gonna get crazy after this chapter, so buckle in! Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 6: It's About the Clutter in the Kitchen, Among Other Things**

Jack paused outside the front door of the apartment and took a deep breath in the darkness. He'd had a very long day at work after the debacle at the botanical garden and was exhausted. But he was scared to go inside, scared to face the mess he made. Maybe he could sleep out on the balcony with Janet's little display of potted plants instead and start over in the morning.

It had taken Jack about two minutes after he had walked away to find a bus stop that he wanted to run back to find Janet and apologize for shooting his mouth off and being so _stupid._ And it took a few more minutes before he actually got the guts to retrace his steps. He then wandered around the parking lot for a while, hoping Janet's red car would magically appear, showing that she was waiting for him the whole time. But no. Of course she had driven off. He'd find it more ridiculous if she _had_ stayed considering what he'd said.

He couldn't believe he'd let those things come out of his mouth. Why didn't he just tell her what was actually bothering him? Wasn't that the whole point of involving himself in this wedding planning business? To tell Janet how he really felt about her? And _not, _as he had done earlier, make himself look much worse in Janet's eyes, therefore making Phillip look all the more appealing to her?

His chance was ruined, he knew it. He screwed everything up, and all because he was too scared to tell Janet the truth. He thudded his head against the front door in frustration, still not ready to go inside.

Suddenly, the door swung open and with all of his weight leaning on the door, Jack fell forward and he heard a startled gasp.

"Oh. It's just you." He heard Terri's voice. He then saw her walk over to the couch, not bothering to help him up from the floor.

Jack got to his feet and shut the door. "Were you going somewhere?"

"No. I just thought I heard a knock on the door. I didn't know it was just your big head."

Jack gave a timid look around the apartment. "So… is Janet here?"

"No. She's at Phillip's."

"Oh." Somehow that was worse than having Janet home and giving him the cold shoulder.

Terri was focused on painting her nails, but Jack could sense she didn't approve of what happened earlier in the day.

"Did she say when she was coming back?"

"In the morning."

He grimaced.

"So how was your day?"

"It was fine."

Yeah, she sounded annoyed that he was even in the same room as her.

"Geez. You're not even gonna ask me how work was?" Jack cracked, trying to ease the tension in the air.

"How was work, Jack?"

"It was okay."

Terri turned the volume up on the TV in response.

He ran a hand over his hair. '_Geez.'_

Jack walked over to take a seat on the chair by the couch. "Look, Terri." Her eyes were still on her nails. "I was really stupid earlier. _Really _stupid. I shouldn't have gone and said that stuff."

She finally decided to acknowledge his presence and looked at him.

"I don't know what got into me." He wanted someone to tell him everything would be fine, but Terri looked on with indifference. "I mean that was _not _the way to go about things." Still no reply. "Terri, could you please say something. I need to talk to someone who isn't me."

"Okay." She screwed the top back on the nail polish bottle. "You're doing a terrible job of this, and I'm starting to question whether you even deserve a chance to be with Janet."

His face fell. It was exactly what he was expecting her to say, but hearing it out loud still felt awful. "You're right. You're completely right."

"And I don't know what else you want me to say to you, because I'd hope you're fully aware of how much you're messing this up." Terri spoke in a matter-of-fact tone before lightly waving a hand to dry her nails.

Jack sank into the rocking chair. "I know. But…"

"But what?"

"I couldn't help myself. It all just sorta poured out of me."

Terri finally had the courtesy to turn the volume back down on the TV. "Then you must not be taking this seriously enough if you can't control yourself to not say things that are obviously going to upset her."

"I know. I'm terrible. I'm the worst."

Terri said nothing to contradict him.

"So what do you think I should do?"

Terri sighed hearing this question. "I can't believe you're even asking that. Don't you think you should apologize?"

Jack groaned. "You're right. I- I just- every time I try to do something I screw it up. Thought someone else might have a better idea."

"You've got to do this yourself. You know that." Terri reminded him.

"I know." He sounded like a broken record. "It's just that this is one of the most serious things I've ever had to do. I don't want to mess it up."

Terri raised an eyebrow.

"Any more than I already have."

"Right. Then I'd say apologizing is step one."

"Yeah." Jack muttered.

He sat in thought for a while and Terri went back to watching TV and painting her nails. Every few minutes, he'd be a little shocked to hear Terri chuckle at whatever she was watching. _How _she could be laughing at a time like this, when he was suffering the consequences of his big mouth, was beyond him. But maybe he was making a bigger deal out of this than he needed to. He just had to _say _it. What was so hard about that? Just a few words of complete and total honesty... But of course, that was easier said than done.

But Terri was right, he needed to apologize for being a jerk before getting to the 'I love you' part. How he was going to do that successfully when he'd only been making things more complicated for himself with every passing day was beyond him.

"Terri?"

"Huh?"

"How do you suppose I should apologize to Janet? Like, what do I say?"

"How about, 'I'm sorry for being an asshole and embarrassing you in public?'" She offered, not looking away from the TV screen.

"Real rich, Terri. Very classy."

"Sorry, this is Janet we're talking about. She'd want something more heartfelt and meaningful than that."

"Geez, have you ever apologized to Janet before?"

"Yes, I have actually. Yesterday. But you have more experience with this than me. I don't drive her crazy like you do."

"Thanks for that. ...So what should I say to her?"

Terri shrugged. "Tell her you didn't mean it."

"But what if I did mean it?"

"Pardon?"

"She _isn't _thinking things through. And Phillip should be along for the ride. We're not marrying Janet, he is!"

"Well obviously you're right about that. Everything about this is a mess in my opinion." Terri answered. "But that's not the point. You can't go up to Janet and say, 'I'm sorry for causing a scene but I was right, and you're being reckless, and Phillip sucks.' That's not the point of apologizing right now."

"Yeah, yeah. So just lie?"

Terri nodded her head. "I don't think any other way is gonna work out so well for you, given the state of things."

Jack sighed before agreeing with her. "I guess I better come up with a good apology and convincingly lie my ass off." He stood up. "Good thing I've been doing that for years."

"True. I don't know about convincingly, but the rest of what you said is true enough. And you have all night to practice acting like you don't think she's making the biggest mistake of her life." Terri smiled.

"Yeah…"

...

Janet returned early in the morning the next day, and was surprised to find Jack knocked out on the couch. However, she wasn't curious enough to wake him up and find out why he wasn't in bed, nor was she feeling kind enough to wake him up and tell him to go to his room and sleep in his bed rather than on the lumpy couch.

But he did look quite peaceful even though the blanket he had only covered his leg that was dangling off the couch. Then a wild idea flew briefly through her mind. What if he was out here because he had stayed up waiting for her to come home so he could apologize? Why else would he be camped out on the couch? Especially when he'd been going on and on about getting so little sleep the night before, and when he definitely had work all day today?

The scenario she'd made up in her head was enough to make her tiptoe over to the couch and gently re-cover Jack with the blanket. Seeing that sweet face up close reminded her that he was much less of a nuisance when he was asleep and that she was very angry with him. He hadn't actually apologized to her yet. She swiftly averted her eyes from the unconscious oaf on the couch and resumed her journey to the kitchen.

As she went through the mechanical motions of preparing the morning coffee, it was hitting her again why she wanted to stay at Phillip's as long as possible. Sure, she'd wanted to tell Phillip all about her ideas for the wedding, but she was also glad to have somewhere to hide out. She'd been thinking about staying later just to avoid having to see Jack before he went off to work for the day, but Phillip had to be at the office early and he didn't see a point in Janet spending the day at his place while he wasn't there, seeing as she'd have nothing to do.

She didn't tell him that she really wouldn't mind sitting aimlessly in his apartment just so she wouldn't have to run into Jack's stupid face earlier than she wanted to. But doing that would mean opening up a conversation about why she was mad at Jack, and she hadn't told Phillip about that part of yesterday's field trip. She didn't know why she didn't tell him. It's not like they didn't have the time to discuss it. It didn't make sense. Maybe she was afraid Phillip might agree with Jack's point, or maybe he'd be just as upset as she was upon hearing what Jack had said… no. She'd deal with this herself. No need to clue Phillip in on Jack's idiotic comments.

As she was waiting for the coffee to finish brewing, Janet heard faint murmuring from the other room and assumed Terri was out of bed, and the speaking implied that Jack was also awake. Preparing herself to give her classic cold shoulder, Janet was shocked to see her father walk through the kitchen door.

"Dad?" She asked with wide eyes.

"Hey, princess!" He gave his startled daughter a hug.

"I can't believe this! What are you doing here?" She sputtered.

"Your mother wanted to come in early as a surprise. We're here to lend a few more hands to the wedding!"

"But, when did you get here?"

"Late last night." Her dad replied. "We were so glad Jack and Terri were still awake. This was such a spur of the moment decision, we didn't have time to book a hotel just yet."

"Oh!" And _that's _why Jack was on the couch. He wasn't waiting for her at all. Her parents had taken his room. "That's great! Oh, I'm so happy you're here!"

"So am I! Congratulations, Janet." Her father said warmly.

She smiled. "Thanks, Dad."

"Well, I was going to get the coffee started but it looks like you beat me to it. I'll go wake your mother and tell her you're finally here." And Roland was out the door as quickly as he came in.

Janet put a hand to her chest, processing the fact that her parents were actually there in the apartment. But none other than Jack Tripper came strolling in next, as though he was waiting for her dad to leave the kitchen. The two locked eyes for a moment. Janet's gaze was startled though quickly becoming icy, and Jack's was still sleepy but instantly apologetic.

He was the first to speak. "Janet…"

Janet didn't answer him and instead went to grab a coffee mug from the cabinet.

"Janet, about yesterday…" But what about yesterday they didn't find out just then because Janet's mother came bursting into the kitchen.

"Janet!" She squealed.

"Mom!"

"Oh, darling!" She hugged her daughter tightly and then they exchanged more squeals as Janet showed her the ring on her finger.

Jack stood meekly off to the side for a moment. He was hurt by Janet's total blocking out of his presence in the room but knew he deserved it. He couldn't bare to see them gawking over that stupid ring, but he had promised to make the Woods a breakfast a la Jack Tripper before he left for the Bistro that morning, so he got to work.

He had been brushing his teeth when Terri answered the doorbell late last night to find Janet's parents standing outside with their luggage, which included Mrs. Wood's wedding dress (brought for Janet to try on). Terri had been kind enough to be the one to invite them to stay the night while Jack stood dumbstruck, toothbrush still in hand and toothpaste dripping down the front of his shirt.

Though they were disappointed (and only slightly horror struck) that their daughter was not at the apartment and was staying with Phillip overnight, Janet's parents were quick to settle down to sleep, having just gotten off their flight. Still, Jack and Terri didn't dare say much to each other about this recent development for fear that the Woods would hear their conversation. However, what they both were sure of was that with Janet's parents staying with them, Jack would have even less time to speak to Janet alone. And their being there made the wedding feel so much closer.

Jack continued listening to the daughter and mother talk a mile a minute about what had been planned so far and what still needed to be done. Finally, Janet's dad returned to the kitchen with Terri walking in sleepily behind him and he chuckled. "Looks like we've got a full house."

The scene at breakfast was very much like the one in Janet's car the day before. Jack and Terri were very quiet while Janet pretended nothing was wrong. There was so much to talk about that her parents hardly noticed how quiet her roommates were. Of course, Janet noticed, but she certainly wasn't going to draw attention to it.

Through their conversation, the trio discovered that Janet's younger siblings, Josh and Jenny were due in Santa Monica in two days' time, accompanied by Jenny's daughter.

"How is Jenny doing? The divorce was finalized last month, right?" Janet asked before taking a sip of coffee.

"Oh." Ruth was immediately exasperated. "She's doing just great actually. In fact, I think she's a little too excited about coming to California for a few weeks."

"Really? Why?"

"Well you know, the scene here is so different." She rolled her eyes. "I'm afraid she's coming here with the idea that this will be like some spring break trip in college."

"Well, I'm sure she's just happy to be officially single again." Janet laughed at her mother's frustration. "But we have so much to do and Katie's coming along, so she's not going to have that much free time."

"Oh, I'm sure she'll have plenty of fun with all of these people here to babysit." Her father shook his head goodnaturedly. "Jack, Terri, do you two like kids?" This was the first time either of them were directly spoken to during breakfast. "You free to babysit?"

Terri simply answered with a charming laugh in which Roland joined. She was not about to add babysitting Janet's niece to her list of things she was getting roped into.

"Oh well, Terri you're a nurse, right? I'm sure you're wonderful with children." Ruth pointed out.

"Uh, Jack's the one who's great with kids. Isn't that right, Janet?" This was her weak attempt to get Janet to acknowledge Jack's existence.

"Hmm? Oh… sure."

Janet's short response got an eye raise from her mother while her father looked to Jack with a smile. "Well that's great then. I'm sure you'll like Katie. She's just like her mother."

"Oh, joy." Jack spoke quietly. Now he'd be getting stuck with babysitting duties while Janet was off planning her wedding with Phillip and her whole family.

"So, Janet dear, what is the plan for today? And when can we meet Phillip?" Ruth was excited to change the subject to Janet's wedding.

Janet laughed. "Phillip's working late today unfortunately. And then we both work all day tomorrow." She mentally checked their work schedules in her head. "Gee, I guess the next time we both have days off is Friday."

"Honey, how are you pulling this off with both of you working so much?"

"I'm managing. But you two being here takes a big weight off of things." Janet smiled at her parents. "And as for plans for today, I'd love to have an easy day where we just run through everything we've gotten together so far and maybe visit the three ceremony locations Phillip and I have narrowed down to?"

"You narrowed it down to three places?" Jack asked

Janet's face flickered but she didn't answer Jack's question.

Terri, not one to be out of touch of what was going on in front of her, jumped in so as to not make Jack and Janet's situation so obvious to the parents. "What places are you thinking about?"

"Well, Phillip and I really like the idea of a beach wedding. And he also suggested the country club he belongs to." Janet readily answered her. "That might be good because then we could also have the reception there as well." She explained.

"Oh, he belongs to a country club? How nice!" Ruth enthused.

"What's the third place?" Roland asked.

"Oh uh, the third place is the botanical garden at UCLA." Janet said reluctantly. She felt her face reddening a bit and she worked even harder to avoid Jack's gaze even though he was standing off to the side with his breakfast, having been the one to volunteer to go without a chair.

"A garden? How unique!" Her father sounded interested. "Have you been there before?"

"Um, yes."

"The three of us actually took a look at it yesterday." Terri filled the Woods in on the specifics. "Though, a second visit would probably do some good. We didn't see too much of the place."

"Why's that?"

"Why? Well, um-" She stammered glancing between her roommates. Jack's eyes were widening, begging her not to mention the fight, while Janet was suddenly very interested in the design on her empty plate. "It was a uh… a long day. A _very_ long day." Terri stressed the last part.

"Oh, that's too bad." Ruth spoke. "We can definitely have a look at it today. I know how much you'd love that one particularly, Janet."

Janet picked up her downward gaze to give her mother a thin lipped smile.

"Well, it sounds like we've got a schedule for the day." Roland said genially as he stood up to put his dishes into the sink. "And hey, listen. I've got a great idea. How about when your brother and sister get into town, we have a nice family dinner to get to know Phillip?"

"Oh, that sounds like a great idea!" Janet enthused, grateful her dad had been quick to change the subject.

"Jack, how would you feel about hosting the Woods and their new family member at your restaurant?"

Janet's smile instantly became a frown and her eyes narrowed. Jack looked helplessly around the room. "If you really want to… I'd be glad to have you."

Mrs. Wood, who noticed Janet's change in demeanor, said, "I don't know, Roland. Why don't we go somewhere else for dinner. We don't want to put Jack out."

"Oh, you wouldn't be putting me out."

"Plus, we've already had Jack's cooking. We know what it's like. Maybe we could try somewhere else in town."

"You know what, Mom? That's a great idea." Janet jumped in instantly. "I'm sure Phillip's got some great places he loves to dine out at. I'll ask him to suggest a few!"

"Wonderful." Her mother said satisfied.

"Yes, great." Mr. Wood agreed. "And Jack, Terri, you two are invited of course. You're part of the family."

Oh, thank you so much, sir." Terri said, a little touched and more than a little concerned for Jack's wellbeing moving ahead.

"Yes, thank you. We'll be there." Jack said with a pained smile. "Well, I hate to bail out on this little get together, but I really should be leaving for work soon."

"Oh, of course! Don't let us keep you." Roland said. "And thanks for the breakfast. It was delicious!"

"Yes. Thank you, Jack." Ruth smiled politely.

"See you all later then." He said with one last glance at Janet, which she pointedly ignored, before he ducked out of the kitchen.

It wasn't long before Janet's dad found a reason to leave the kitchen as well. "If you'll excuse me, I think I'll go give your morning paper a read."

"Oh sure, Dad. Help yourself."

Once Roland was out of the kitchen, Ruth leaned forward. " So, Janet…"

"Hmm?"

"What has Jack done to upset you?"

Janet choked down the rest of her coffee. "Excuse me?"

"Now don't try and act like you haven't the faintest idea what I'm talking about. You've never had a good poker face."

Janet looked a little offended by this comment, but she was thankful her mother had the sense not to ask this question with Jack in the room. She looked over at Terri, who had gotten up to pour herself another cup of coffee. "It's- it's nothing, Mom."

Terri turned her head to give Janet a quizzical look.

Her mother didn't seem convinced. "Then why haven't you said a word to him all morning? The two of you are usually like two peas in a pod."

"Come on, Mom. I was just so busy talking with you and Dad." Janet squeezed her hand. "I'm so _happy _you two are here."

"Nice try, dear."

Janet frowned. This was the first time her mother had visited Santa Monica since Janet had stupidly convinced Jack to pretend to be her husband to appease her father's worries about her _still _not being married, while Jenny was already settled down with a family. Though it seemed that after that trip, her mother was the one left feeling more concerned about single Janet cohabiting with single Jack. Her father, meanwhile, had come in to visit a few times afterwards and was now somewhat fond of Janet's roommate.

Even though she was furious with Jack, she didn't really want her mother to have more fuel for her vague dislike of Jack. Deep down Janet knew Jack was feeling miserable about what he said. She could see it all over his face when they met in the kitchen that morning. And she _would _hear out his apology, eventually. But with her parents hanging around, now just wasn't the time. Plus, Jack could do with her being angry with him for a little while longer.

She didn't get why she felt so secretive about the situation with Jack. She just hoped Terri wouldn't blow her cover.

"It's really not that big of a deal, Mom." She hoped her smile was doing the trick. "It's just… some roommate stuff. Typical, really. Nothing to write home about."

"What was it then?"

"Hmm? Oh, um…"

"Does it have to do with all this clutter?" Ruth looked around the kitchen with an air of disapproval. All of the desserts Jack made the other night were still taking up most of the counter space.

"Oh." Janet followed her mother's eyes. In truth, she hadn't noticed Jack had never taken all the food to work with him yesterday. "Yeah." She nodded her head. "Sure, that's part of it."

"Just a typical roommate quarrel then?" Ruth directed this question to Terri for confirmation.

"... I guess you could say that." Terri, thankfully, caught on to Janet's want for secrecy.

Ruth looked between the two younger women. Janet was hoping she'd buy it or at least move on from it, and Terri was drinking her coffee, thinking there was no way Mrs. Wood would believe something as stupid as one roommate not speaking to the other because of counter space.

Luckily for Janet, her mom graciously dropped the subject since she could sense that neither her daughter nor Terri were going to give her another story. "Well then." Mrs. Wood clasped her hands together with an upbeat voice. "No more talk about Jack. We better get a move on. There's so much to do today!"


	7. Chapter 7: Honesty? And Miscommunication

Note: I know I said chaos was going to start after chapter 6, _but _we needed to address that argument before Janet's siblings come to town and take up more of her time. So enjoy (or be mad at Jack and/or Janet and/or Terri) and uh happy early Valentine's Day.

* * *

**Chapter 7: Maybe If Everyone Told the Truth There Would Be Less Miscommunication**

It had been two days since Janet's parents had come to town and just over two days since her argument with Jack. Two days of awkward glances and her parents' ever constant presence looming over the apartment.

Currently, Janet was camped out on the couch, watching an old movie with the volume turned down so as not to disturb her sleeping parents. Terri had just left for the night shift and would be back in the morning. Jack was at work and Janet supposed he'd be back soon.

She stared listlessly at the TV screen. Realistically, she knew that Jack just hadn't had the time to speak to her in private. He had the restaurant to tend to all day and she had her own job, and parents whose company she had to keep, _and _a whole damn wedding to plan. It was a miracle they'd had the time to share those uncomfortable fleeting glances.

At this point she was just restless to get this apology over with. She hated sitting with it because it made her think more and more about all the possible explanations as to _why _he had said that stuff, about why he had been so gloomy, and so unlike himself. And now she was letting herself give in to those wild fantasies where maybe, just maybe, Jack was acting like an idiot because he had feelings for her and didn't want her to get married to Phillip.

It was ridiculous to even entertain the idea, especially since she was attached to someone else, but why else would he be acting the way he had since she got engaged?

In the brief moments of downtime she had over the last two days, Janet had been obsessing over what all of this meant. The rational part of her told her it was crazy and that she was only setting herself up to be let down. But then the hopeful side's only response was, '_Why not?'_. Was it so crazy that maybe Jack felt that way? Sure, it wasn't great timing… but did that matter to her? Isn't this what she secretly always wanted?

There was a small part of her that felt bad that she was doing all of this thinking about Jack. Phillip barely crossed her mind when she wasn't directly working on wedding planning.

She ran a hand through her hair. She needed to stop the pondering. Actually, she really needed to talk to Jack. She needed to know what was really up with him before she kept going on like this.

...

Jack returned home late that night to find Janet asleep on the couch. He tiptoed over to her but stopped when he noticed some papers sprawled out on the coffee table, some with Janet's familiar handwriting and others with what had to be her mother's. The writings were clearly plans for the wedding. There seemed to be some kind of color code going on, arrows pointing every which way, and quite a few things were scratched out.

He wished things could be like _this _all the time. Him coming home from work to find Janet asleep on the couch instead of watching whatever movie was playing on the TV. If it had been just a week ago, he would've woken her up and teased her about falling asleep and she'd insist that she was still paying attention to the movie; she was just resting her eyes! Then they'd watch the rest of the movie and try to piece together what was going on if it was something neither of them had seen before.

But things were never going to be like they were before Janet got engaged, for better or worse, and that was ultimately up to him…

The voices on the TV rose for a few moments, waking Janet from her accidental nap. She looked around confused before her eyes settled on Jack.

"Hey." He said softly, though he kept his distance, knowing he wasn't in the clear yet.

"Hi." Janet moved to sit upright, surprised that she'd managed to doze off. "How was work?"

"Oh, work was fine." Jack answered. "Made some food and people ate it. The usual."

Janet nodded politely.

The silence was awkward and so unlike them. Usually they had a million things they could talk about. But Janet was sitting sleepily and redirected her gaze to the TV screen, waiting for Jack to begin his apology.

He didn't catch on. "Terri at work?"

Janet nodded again.

"Your mom and dad asleep?"

"Uh huh."

"Ah."

It took him another second to realize he was actually alone with Janet. Not totally alone of course. Her parents were sleeping in the other room, but this was the closest thing to having any privacy with Janet since that disaster at the garden the other day.

His heart began to pound in his ears. "Janet?"

"Hmm?"

"Can we uh… can we talk?"

'_Oh, god. This is it._' Janet's stomach swooped. "Sure." She was glad her voice sounded casual and didn't give away her instant nerves.

Jack's eyes flickered to his bedroom door. "Could we talk outside?" He noticed her raised eyebrows. "It's kind of important. Besides I don't want to wake your parents." '_Or have them eavesdropping'_, he added internally.

This really was it. She nodded her head once again and stood up to follow him out the front door.

Not much talking happened after the two had stepped out onto their small balcony. The night air was charged with something. Jack sensed anticipation, or an anxiousness, but maybe it was just him. He vaguely registered that Janet's watching eyes were wide and expectant.

"Janet." He finally said with significance.

"Jack." She returned in a small voice.

He gulped at the air like he was running out of it. "Janet. I- I am so sorry about that stuff I said the other day."

Janet didn't say anything in return, too focused on what might come next.

Her lack of reply only heightened Jack's nervous state. He had no idea what was going through her mind, but her face was so intense.

"That stuff I said… it was stupid. It was mean. Cruel."

"It sure was."

"I don't know what I was thinking. Actually, you know what? I wasn't thinking at all. I had no right to say those things to you like that." Jack said in earnest. "I really am sorry, Janet."

"Yeah?" Her voice was still so small and that scared him.

"Of course I am!" He watched her face anxiously. She was so _quiet_, and still standing there looking at him as though she was waiting for something else.

"Come on, Janet. Don't make me beg for your forgiveness." He was half joking, half desperate. "I'll get on my hands and knees!"

He swore he saw her mouth twitch, which was more than enough to convince him to drop down to the ground. "Please, Janet. _Please! _I am begging you! Please forgive me! I am so so sorry." He said with a dramatic flair and total honesty.

Janet smiled reluctantly. "Get up, Jack."

He quickly obliged and when he stood up he was much closer to her than before. Up close he could see in her eyes that something still wasn't right, like this wasn't enough. "I really am so sorry, Janet." His eyes bore into hers. "I…" He remembered Terri's words of advice from the other night. "I didn't mean it. I was just being stupid."

Jack's heart sank as he registered the expectant look in Janet's eyes change to hurt, her second smile only reached her lips.

"You didn't?" She finally whispered.

"I didn't, I swear!" Jack answered immediately, hoping the confirmation would change Janet's mood.

"Oh."

She had to get back inside. She had to get away from him before she did something stupid like cry. Janet averted her gaze away from Jack's face, she couldn't look at him.

That 'Oh' and the pause after was unbearable for Jack. "Janet, please say something else. Yell at me. Tell me I'm an idiot. I deserve it." If this was like any of their other silly arguments, Janet would've been doing all of those things and they'd clear the air shortly after. But as Janet's eyes avoided Jack's pleading face, he had to remind himself this wasn't just another stupid quarrel between roommates.

"No, it's okay." Janet said quietly.

"No, it's not." Jack stated the obvious. "What else do you want me to say? I'll say it." He grabbed one of her hands. "I'm sorry." He apologized again, but he didn't know how else to get that message through to her.

Janet looked at their clasped hands. "You don't have to say anything you don't mean, Jack."

"I _do _mean it though. I'm sorry, Janet." His voice was strained with desperation.

He just didn't get it. She'd laugh at how oblivious he was if she wasn't the one enduring it.

"I know, Jack. It's okay." She repeated.

"No. No, it's not. Janet, I know you. You're still upset, I can tell. What do you want?" Jack asked urgently. This wasn't going the way he imagined at all. This was supposed to be the easy part...

'_What do you want?'_ That question rang in her ears, taunting her. "I don't want anything, Jack. It's _okay._" She stressed the last part, anxious to get away from him, and not sure how much longer she could last standing so close to him while he tread all over her stupid fantasy.

"Janet…"

"Look, I'm real tired, Jack. Jenny and Josh are flying in tomorrow and I have a million things to do."

"But-"

"It's fine!" She snapped. "Don't worry about it. I know you didn't mean any of it. Let's just move past it, okay? You don't have to keep apologizing. I heard you loud and clear." She said it with such a finality that Jack didn't try to interject. "Goodnight, Jack." Janet pulled her hand away from his and turned to go back inside, leaving Jack alone.

Back inside, Janet bent over the coffee table to gather the notes she and her parents had been working on during her lunch break. She dragged her feet over to the TV to turn it off, no longer in the mood for the movie. She picked up her pace to make it to the privacy of her bedroom before Jack came back in.

That was exactly why she shouldn't have gotten her hopes up. She felt like such a fool. Now here she was upset about not hearing something she knew realistically wasn't going to be said in the first place.

'_You knew this. You know this. You're just friends. You've always just been friends!'_ She scolded herself, but still she dropped down dejectedly onto her bed.

It was so stupid to get her hopes up like that when she had no proof in the first place. She never had any real proof that Jack felt something for her and she still let herself actually consider it as a possibility? _Of course_ Jack's behavior over the last few days was just him being stupid. Of course that was the explanation. He was stupid. She knew this about him. But maybe she was even more stupid than he was for thinking he had the capacity to have a better reason. That was her mistake. She was letting her feelings cloud her judgement, hell, she was letting them cloud reality.

She tossed her stack of plans on the floor beside her bed and cursed Jack for being the way he was and for waiting so long to apologize. If he had just told her he was sorry a few days ago instead of leaving her up to her own devices to dream up an excuse for him...

Janet allowed herself to stew for a few moments before she sat up, already having to remind herself to avoid the cloudy judgement. Why was she so mad at Jack? What had he done besides apologize profusely? He didn't have a clue that she was expecting him to profess his love for her. He'd just done the right thing and owned up to his childish behavior, a little late but they _had _been so busy.

She was still upset though.

She wasn't even upset about what happened at the garden anymore. She was upset with herself. She let herself get her hopes up. Again. And for what exactly? She was getting married to Phillip. She had a perfectly good thing going and she was hoping her roommate would ask her to call the whole thing off to be with him? It was like some stupid rom-com movie.

If anything, she should be relieved! Not disappointed! Not upset! _Relieved_, because this meant she was making the right decision by moving on, marrying Phillip, and getting away from here. Jack's mere presence made her question everything these days.

She had to go through with this. She had to move on. This was getting ridiculous. She actually thought Jack might've been on the brink of some kind of breakthrough, but he was just being a jerk. What else was new?

Janet shook her head at herself. She _was _doing the right thing. Marrying Phillip was the right thing to do. He was a nice guy and she didn't feel the need to analyze his every feeling and action to figure out how it related to her. This was the right thing to do. Jack wasn't in love with her. She had to stop holding out the hope that he ever would be. She could do that.

...Her heart still felt heavy though. And she couldn't lie to herself and say that Jack's lack of confession wasn't a big blow. She'd just have to get over it, it was possible. It was just going to be so hard.

Jack stepped back into the apartment and noticed that Janet had cleared away her things from his sleeping area. He dropped himself onto the couch.

He should have followed her in. He should've kept the conversation going. He should've used that moment to tell her. Actually, he should have apologized at the garden instead of waiting days to do so. He could've made the time, but he hadn't.

Maybe he waited too long and now whatever he said was too little, too late in Janet's mind.

Was what he said really _that _bad though? Was it enough to strain their relationship- their friendship? Had he ruined things for good? Could he not even be friends without things being weird between them forever? He hadn't even gotten to the point of telling her how he felt about her.

Jack could feel himself panicking and wishing he had someone he could talk through this with. But that person was usually Janet, and Janet was in her room, and her parents' presence didn't help anything. Terri wouldn't be back for hours, but what was she going to say that could help him now? It was Terri's advice that had gotten him into this situation, her stupid advice! What did she know about any of his? What did any of them know? None of them were exactly pros at having successful relationships. Why had he given Terri any authority on the matter? Had he made any progress using her advice? Maybe he was better off doing this on his own. But that meant he had no one to blame his mistakes on other than himself.

...

Terri returned home just before sunrise the next morning to find Jack sitting up on the couch, looking to still be dressed in the clothes he wore at work the day before.

"Hey." She spoke quietly so as not to wake up the rest of the people in the apartment. "What are you doing awake so early?"

"Didn't sleep." Jack answered somberly. He was staring at the TV, which was turned down so low, Terri wasn't sure how he could hear it.

"Why not?"

"I apologized to Janet last night."

"Oh!" Terri replied before walking towards the couch. She noted how defeated he looked. "What happened?"

Jack rubbed his hands over his tired face. "I told her I didn't mean what I said and she said that it was okay."

Terri looked puzzled. "I don't understand. What else did she say?"

"She said not to worry about it. I apologized and she said it was alright. That's it."

"Then why do you look like someone just died?"

"_Because_." Jack said sorrowfully. "Because you should've been there when she said it was okay. I don't think she really forgave me."

"But she said it was alright, didn't she?"

"Yeah but… saying it and actually doing it are two different things." Jack sounded like he'd been thinking over that fact all night. "I can't believe I listened to you and said I didn't mean any of it. I- I should've just been upfront and told her I said that crap because of how I feel. Now she just thinks I'm an insensitive jerk."

"Oh…" Terri suddenly felt very guilty. Her totally unthinking advice she'd given him had put Jack worse off than he had been before. "Jack, I'm sorry."

"No, You were right before. None of this would be happening if I just told her but- but I think she really loves Phillip. I think my comments hurt her more than I thought at first. It's- it's too late for me."

"Jack." Terri started. "I think you're being a little hasty about this."

"No, I'm just being realistic, for once."

"So you're just throwing in the towel?"

Jack sighed. "I've gotta stop chasing a dream that's not meant to be. She wants something else- someone else." He stood up. "I'm gonna get started on breakfast. Everyone will be waking up soon."

Terri was left standing in the living room dumbfounded. She wanted to shake him by the shoulders and tell him he needed to try way harder. Janet wasn't going to crack that easily. God, if only she could just tell him that Janet was definitely just as stupidly in love with him as he was with her.

She tossed her purse and hat onto the couch and marched into the kitchen.

"Jack."

"Hmm?"

"I think you're being ridiculous."

He made no reply. He was posted at the refrigerator, looking at its contents to figure out what to make for breakfast for the full house.

"You give up way too easily. I thought you said you were in love with Janet."

"I _am._" Jack sulked, pulling out a carton of eggs.

"Then what's your problem?" He looked hurt by her harsh tone. "Don't give me that kicked puppy look. You know that only works on Janet."

Jack actually nodded his head pathetically in response which made Terri want to pull her hair out. How he couldn't see that Janet was crazy about him was unbelievable.

"Answer my question."

Jack set the eggs down on the table with careful deliberation and kept his gaze away from Terri's prying eyes. "My problem is that what if she doesn't love me?"

She had to force herself to hold in an 'oh, please." since Jack looked to genuinely believe this fear was true.

"You don't know that." She stated in a quieter voice, remembering the rest of the house was still asleep.

The lump that was forming in his throat made it hard for Jack to swallow. "You weren't there last night. You didn't hear her voice. You didn't see her face. You didn't see her eyes."

This was true. She hadn't been there and she had no idea what the hell happened between her roommates that wasn't said, but this was just insane. "I still think you're overreacting."

Jack tried to make his shrug look indifferent.

There was another pause and Jack started cracking eggs into a bowl to be whisked and Terri gathered the strength to talk some sense into him.

"Did she tell you she doesn't love you?"

"What?"

"You heard me. Did she say those words?"

Jack looked up at the ceiling. "No, but-"

"Then why are you so certain that she doesn't?"

He hesitated. "Because I- I don't know, I just know it. Why else would she still be mad even after I apologized? She's… she's probably hurt on behalf of her and Phillip as a couple."

"That is so corny."

Jack brushed off the unhelpful comment. "I kind of insulted their relationship, I guess." He explained his thought process over his sleepless night. "She must actually love him. That's why it doesn't feel like things are okay."

Terri hardly believed that was the case. This had to be a classic case of Janet being stubborn or something.

"I think you should talk to her again and be more honest. Just lay everything out on the table. Don't leave anything out this time."

"How many times am I gonna have to talk to Janet for you to be satisfied?" Jack asked annoyed at this repeated advice from the blonde.

"Until everyone who lives here is on the same page about your feelings for Janet."

"I don't know, Terri… I think she really wants to marry Phillip. I really don't think she feels the same way about me."

"Look, you're never gonna know unless you put yourself out there. And-" She hesitated. She wanted so badly to tell him how easy it would be for him considering how she suspected Janet felt for him. The only thing holding her back was her respect for Janet, so she wouldn't speak on her behalf. "You know, I've only been living here for a few years but… you and Janet have a very special bond, so… who knows! Maybe if she knew there was another option she wouldn't be so fussed about marrying a guy she's known for a month."

Jack perked up the tiniest bit hearing it from that perspective. "You really think so?"

"Would I be wasting my time trying to help you if I didn't? My life doesn't revolve around you and Janet. I've got other things to do." She suppressed a yawn. "Like sleep."

"Yeah, some help you've been." Jack muttered.

"I said I was sorry." Terri put her hands up. "I'll do my best to not give bad advice in the future."

"You don't think this is a waste of time then?"

"All I'm saying is you'll never know if you never try."

"I _am _trying." Jack reminded her.

"Sorry, I mean you'll never know if you don't do better."


	8. Chapter 8: Dinner with the Woods

Note: Okay, from this point on things are gonna get chaotic lol. With Janet's family in town, there's a lot more for her and Jack to deal with. Hope you don't mind that this chapter is so long haha. xo

* * *

**Chapter 8: Having Dinner with Stuff You've Been Trying to Keep on the ****Back-burner**

It had been within minutes of Jack's conversation with Terri that morning that Janet and her parents were up and running about the apartment, getting the place ready for Josh, Jenny, and Jenny's daughter. They had previously decided that Janet's siblings would take their parents' places as the house guests, while their parents finally moved themselves into a hotel.

Janet had returned home with her siblings and niece around midday, and little Katie had taken it upon herself to awaken the roommates from their naps. And after an involved discussion about where everyone was supposed to sleep with only three beds and six people, they all spent the rest of the day lazing about before they had to get ready for dinner with Phillip and Janet's parents.

Presently, everyone was on their way to the highly anticipated (or dreaded, depending on who you were) dinner where the Wood family would be meeting Phillip at some upscale restaurant. Jack and Terri were in Larry's car following closely behind Janet's, and aside from the occasional deep sigh from Jack, the car ride had been a quiet one thus far.

Jack sighed yet again and Terri answered him with her own sigh. "Look, I don't care if you want to do this whole 'woe is me' thing with me, but you've got to at least try to be a little more chipper looking at dinner."

He rested his head back on the seat and closed his eyes. "Why?"

"Because everyone there is going to be in a celebratory mood. It'd be really noticeable if you were sitting there sighing whenever there's a gap in the conversation."

"Oh, well if everyone is going to be offended by my bad mood."

Terri pursed her lips. "Plus, you didn't hear it from me, but I don't think Janet's mom likes you very much."

"Really?" Jack opened his eyes. "What makes you think that?"

"Just the way she looks at you all judgmental when she has to talk to you." Terri shrugged. "It's very noticeable. She doesn't hide it very well."

"Gee, I know we didn't exactly hit it off the first time she came to visit." Jack frowned.

"Well, I'm just saying, Janet's mother seems pretty sold on Phillip as perfect husband material. You should have heard her going on about him yesterday, and she hasn't even met him yet." Terri informed Jack.

"Oh, yeah, that." Jack said knowingly. "I'd have no fighting chance if who Janet was marrying was up to her mother. She probably doesn't think I'm good enough for Janet." That had always been a sort of vague concern of his ever since he realized he had feelings for Janet, that he wasn't good enough for her. Now it was a much more present concern that was loosely linked to the possibility that the idea of the two of them being more than friends may have never crossed her mind.

"Lucky for you, Janet can marry whoever she chooses. It's not up to her mother."

"Yeah…" Jack was lost in thought once again.

"But you waltzing into this dinner like a moody teenager who doesn't want to be there definitely wouldn't help. Just saying." The blonde shrugged from the driver's seat.

"Okay, okay. I get your point. So, what do you say? I work my charm on the family? Make them like me more than they like Phillip?"

"Let's not bite off more than you can chew."

"What? I can be charming."

Terri made a face.

"Come on, I can at least out-charm _Phillip._"

"Well, that's not very hard is it? He's… a little bland." Terri admitted.

"I don't know what Janet sees in him." Jack began. "Wait, if you think Phillip's bland, then what's wrong with my being charming?"

Terri shrugged. "It's more annoying than charming."

"Annoying?" Jack was offended.

"You tend to take the funny too far in my opinion. Everything has to be a joke with you. You have to make everyone laugh."

"What's wrong with that? People like laughing."

"Not when they're trying to be serious. And not when you're Janet's parents trying to get to know Phillip, who is their ideal son-in-law. So, don't overdo it tonight." Terri advised.

"I'm not one to overdo things."

Janet was more than glad there wasn't enough room in her car by one seat for everyone to ride with her to the restaurant, meaning she didn't have to deal with whatever was going on with her and Jack for the time being. And even though they could get on her nerves, she was grateful that her family was in town and demanded so much of her time.

When Janet pulled into the parking lot, with Terri and Jack coming in a bit after her, she saw Phillip's car already parked. "What color did you say Mom and Dad's rental car is?" Janet asked, suddenly nervous. She'd been so busy putting her energy into avoiding Jack that she didn't fully take in the fact that her whole family was about to meet Phillip.

"Navy blue." Her brother answered from the passenger's seat. "Hey, it's gonna be fine, Jan'." He assured her as she nervously fixed her hair.

"With Mom and Dad there?" Her laugh was quick and high pitched.

"Ah, come on. They're not _that_ bad." Josh chuckled in return.

"You obviously haven't had them pestering you to get married for the last decade."

Josh laughed again. "And _you _obviously haven't visited Indiana in a while."

"Damn, they got you too?"

"It was bound to happen eventually."

Janet shook her head. "Still, it's different with you. You're a boy."

"Recently, they've been trying this thing where they guilt trip me because I'm the only one who can carry on the Wood family name."

"Ugh. They're so old-fashioned."

Jenny, who was unbuckling Katie from her carseat in the back, said, "Well, they're in luck. I'm changing Katie's last name to Wood. Maybe that will satisfy them for a few days whenever I tell them."

"Katie Wood!" Jenny's daughter exclaimed happily from her seat, even though she didn't have much of an idea what a last name was for.

"And Janet, I don't know why you're so worried about this dinner."

"Jenny."

"Please. This is gonna be so easy for you. Need I remind you that I'm recently divorced? You're saving them the embarrassment of having three unmarried children. Now they can go back to just having two."

Janet just sighed.

"That's what Josh meant when he said it was gonna be fine."

Janet looked over at her brother, who smiled sheepishly. "Well, yeah."

Janet rolled her eyes again. "Come on. Let's just get this thing over with."

Jack and Terri were parked in Larry's car a few spots away from Janet. Terri made to start getting out but stopped when she realized Jack remained motionless.

"Jack… let's go."

"What if we just went home? Would anyone miss us?"

"Let's go."

"Why do we even have to be here?"

Terri didn't answer him. "Unbuckle your seatbelt and get out of the car."

"Mrs. Wood doesn't like me, you said so yourself! And Janet's mad at me right now. Everyone would be happier if I wasn't there."

"Would you stop being such a coward."

"But-"

"I did not agree to come out to this dinner and get all dressed up when I have to go to work in a few hours, _and _convince Larry to let us borrow his car for you to say nevermind before we've even gotten inside."

"I could just drive back home and drop you off here. There's enough room in Janet's car for you to ride back." Jack suggested.

"Did you already forget that Larry doesn't want you driving his car? That was one of his two rules." Terri held the keys away from Jack's grasp. "No kids in the car and no Jack at the wheel."

"So what? I'm his best friend. He'll get over it!"

"You totally wrecked Janet's car not even two months ago."

"That was an _accident_." Jack stated the obvious.

"Yeah, that happens a lot with you. Besides, Larry said there's a hundred dollar fine if he finds out you were driving his car."

"Of course there is. What a jerk."

"Do you have a hundred dollars lying around?"

Jack tried to grab the keys. "Since when did you ever care about what Larry says?"

Terri tilted her head. "Fine. Better stop by the bank on your way home. He's waiting up to see that his car gets home safely." She finally offered him the keys.

"Okay, okay." Jack complied. "I'll stay." He moved at a snail's pace as he unbuckled his seatbelt.

"I don't know what you're so worried about. Tonight's not the night to be confessing anything, not with all of these people here. Unless that's what you want to do." Terri chuckled but quickly stopped. "You're not planning to do that are you?"

"No." Jack answered pathetically. "It's just gonna be hard having to sit there while Janet's whole family gushes over Phillip."

Terri gave him a single pat on the back. "There will be alcohol. And Janet's parents are paying."

Jack didn't know whether or not that was a good thing.

"Just remember to be a normal amount of charming and not to make a fool of yourself." Terri reminded him. "Don't make tonight all about you. I don't think Janet would appreciate that."

"Yeah, neither would her parents."

Terri nodded. "Just be pleasant company. It shouldn't be too hard. Just get through it. That's the goal for tonight. You can do that." After her blundering advice from the other day, she was making a conscious effort to be more supportive of Jack's mission, and that meant being a bit nicer to him and giving him pep talks for things like getting out of the car.

Suddenly a small fist banged against Jack's window and they both jumped in surprise.

"Hello?" They heard Katie's voice. "Mommy says you guys are wasting time and to hurry up!"

"When does the rest of Janet's family check into the hotel?" Jack asked.

Terri shrugged before opening her car door.

"Did I knock on the window right, Mommy?" Katie shouted her question as she dashed away from the car when the doors opened.

"Perfect, Katie." Jenny smiled. "I hope she smudged his window." She muttered quietly to her siblings. "No kids in his car, what kind of an asshole."

Janet and Josh were suppressing their laughter when their parents seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.

"Mom, Dad! I'm glad you found the place okay!"

"We were starting to wonder whether you kids were having trouble finding it yourselves." Ruth said as she straightened Josh's tie.

"Don't we all look nice though, Mom?" Josh asked, letting her fix whatever problem she had with his tie.

"I think everyone cleans up pretty nicely." Roland stated. "Even Jack." He joked as Jack and Terri finally joined the family by Janet's car. Jack made to smooth out nonexistent wrinkles on his jacket.

"So where's this Phillip guy at?" Josh asked.

"Well, his car is here. He said if he got here first he'd be waiting for us inside."

...

Phillip was indeed found waiting just inside. He stood up immediately once he saw Janet and her party, greeting everyone with a warm smile.

"Mom, Dad, this is Phillip." Janet turned to her parents after she and Phillip shared a hug.

"What a pleasure it is to finally meet you." Ruth smiled enthusiastically as she wrung Phillip's hand.

"It's wonderful to meet you." Phillip returned goodnaturedly. "Your daughter sure is swell."

"Oh, he's so polite!" Ruth said as an aside to Janet, but it was really loud enough for everyone to hear.

Jack grimaced from the back of the group and then murmured to Terri, "I could have told her Janet's a swell person."

"Dawson, is it?" Roland confirmed as they shook hands. "You seem to be a fine young man from what we heard over the phone."

Phillip chuckled. "Well, anyone who raised Janet is at the top of my list.

Jack gagged. "Way to lay it on thick."

Terri, who was now officially team Jack and Janet over team Phillip and Janet had to agree. "Remember, just get through it." She reminded him quietly. "Smile and get through it."

They finished up the rest of the necessary introductions and the party was taken to their table shortly after.

Once they got to the table there was a moment of confusion, mostly caused by Jack, as everyone chose their seats. In a flash of nervousness, Jack made to sit down in the chair closest to him, but Terri pulled him away by the elbow and nodded her head across the table where Phillip was pulling Janet's chair out for her to sit. Jack rushed around the table to take the open chair on Janet's other side right before Jenny could claim it. Roland had taken a seat next to the one Jack had almost taken, which was where Terri was still standing. Josh came over and pulled out the chair on Terri's other side and the two exchanged smiles. Terri being very satisfied with the seating arrangements was about to take her seat when Ruth bustled over.

"Josh, dear would you mind scooting over one? I want to have a seat next to my son-in-law." She smiled at Phillip.

"Oh, but Mom, Terri's got that seat." Josh said apologetically.

"Hmm? Oh!" Ruth scanned the table. "Well, now Terri I'm sure would be much more comfortable sitting between Jack and Jenny than me and Roland." She said it in such a positive assuming voice that Terri felt like she was being spoken to by her own mother and got up without a word, trying not to show how disappointing she found that spot to be.

"There we go." Ruth smiled again. "Phillip to my right and Joshua to my left."

Josh threw an apologetic wince to Terri across the table as she settled down next to Jack, who was jiggling his leg nervously under the table, likely because he miraculously got the spot next to Janet and didn't know how to act now. Jenny was on her right, buckling Katie into a high chair between her and her father.

...

The first part of dinner actually went smoothly as everyone learned about Phillip's life and family. Janet did her best to keep her parents from sounding like they were interrogating Phillip. Josh, who was an easy conversationalist, sensed Janet's stress and aided her in making the dinner more casual and less like a cross examination. Jenny had been right though, Janet needn't worry about Phillip passing their parents' test. Ruth and Roland adored Phillip instantly and were fascinated by his career choice and his success at it. Having received some warning from Janet long before this dinner, Phillip was taking everything in stride and answered any and all questions thrown his way.

Jenny, however, looked bored to death by Phillip's life story. Terri also thought the dinner was terribly dull and was thinking about how she should've just taken up Jack's offer of ditching the event altogether. The only entertainment she had was watching Jack continue to subtly embarrass himself every few minutes. And after seeing him so defeated when she got home from work that morning, it was getting to be more sad than funny.

Jack had been trying and failing to join the family in the conversation. Whether it was due to his lack of confidence, Janet's unwillingness to even look at him when he spoke, or a combination of both, the most he could get out of the table were some faint chuckles before the attention was turned back on Phillip, clearly the person of utmost importance of the evening. Eventually Jack just accepted defeat and leaned back in his chair and joined Terri as an unwilling spectator to the Wood family dinner.

While dinner _was _going quite well in terms of her parents liking Phillip, Janet was wishing that literally anyone other than Jack was sitting to her right. She'd even elect to have to sit next to Katie, whose crayons kept rolling into Jenny and Roland's table spaces.

But instead of having crayons on her plate, she got to be stuck between these two people who represented two different lives for her. She didn't want these two lives to mesh, she needed them to be separate from each other because… well, that was part of her plan to move on, right? Move on from Jack and get away so she'd stop kidding herself. And she had mostly been successful at not letting them cross more than they needed to. A quick, "Hello, how are you?" when being picked up for a date or being dropped off from one was the relationship Janet's roommates had with Phillip, aside from the incident with the vase.

It was also just very hard to enthusiastically share Phillip with her family while having Jack sitting right next to her the whole time, when she'd sometimes thought of having this kind of dinner with Jack in Phillip's place instead. This whole moving past things part was a lot harder when Jack was always right there like he'd always been, right there with her.

Earlier that day, she briefly considered taking Terri aside to ask her to bail out on dinner and then suggest that Terri get Jack to do the same. But she couldn't risk it knowing the question would flag down Terri's unfortunately accurate intuition. Then Terri would be the one asking why Janet couldn't just ask Jack to bail herself? And why _couldn't _her two very best friends, who were like family according to her father, use this chance to get to know her fiance a little better? And actually, why had they gone this long without getting to know Phillip anyways?

Okay. Maybe Terri wouldn't have asked all of those questions. But she'd sweetly grant Janet's request and then look at her suspiciously for the next few days and know something was up. And it would bug Janet because yeah, something _was _up. Terri was always right and that annoyed Janet because she didn't even have to ask any questions, she just knew. Hell, she wouldn't be surprised if Terri knew something was off and what exactly was going on right this minute.

They managed to make it halfway through dinner before things went to shit.

Janet should have realized much sooner that trouble was brewing when Jenny was sitting and eating as quietly as Jack and Terri were, doing more listening and looking between her and Phillip than talking.

There was a lull in the conversation and Jenny took a moment to finally say, "You two are… so… different from each other."

Everyone looked over at the younger Wood sister. Phillip was the first to speak with a chuckle. "You say that like it's a bad thing."

Jenny tilted her head. "Well-"

"It's not a bad thing at all." Ruth cut Jenny off. "You know what they say, opposites attract."

"I always thought that was such a stupid saying." Jenny stated.

"I think your sister and Phillip make a charming couple. Don't you think so Roland? Joshua?"

"Yes, dear. They are a mighty fine couple." Roland agreed. Josh nodded along.

Jenny crossed her arms, looking between Janet and Phillip once again, trying to figure out what was wrong with this situation.

Everyone thought she had dropped it when suddenly she turned to her left. "So, Jack, Terri. What do you think about this whole thing?" She gestured to the engaged couple. "We didn't get much chance to talk when we were getting settled back at the apartment."

Jack and Terri looked up, both frightened by the question. Jack had been taking a bite from his salad and had a piece of onion hanging out of his mouth.

"What was that?" Terri asked, coolly.

"How do you feel about Janet and Phillip getting married? You've known him longer than we have." Jenny explained.

"Cherry!" Katie pointed a crayon excitedly at the blonde next to her mother.

Roland chuckled quietly. "No, darling. It's _Terri_ not Cherry. Te- te-" He emphasized. "Not ch-."

The grandfather and child practiced for a few moments before Katie decided she liked the name Cherry better than Terri.

Katie's mispronunciation earned smiles around the table, but unfortunately Jenny's eyes returned to Janet's roommates, waiting.

"Uh…" Terri's eyes scanned the table as if one of the guests would help her out. "You know, I think everyone can agree with me when I say I think Phil's very nice." She then quickly took a bite of her food.

"Jack?"

"Hmm?" Jack looked up innocently.

"What do you think about Janet and Phillip being engaged?"

Jack could feel Janet tense up beside him.

"No offense, but this dinner has been a bit of a drag." Jenny said. "And no one's really been making an effort to include you guys, so I just thought I'd get your opinion."

"My opinion." Jack repeated back.

"Yes." Jenny smiled. She had only met Jack once, but assumed that if anyone was going to have anything worthwhile to say, it was him, considering he saw more of Janet in the last few years than any of her family members did.

"I…" Jack smiled nervously. All eyes were on him now, aside from Janet.

"Something wrong?" Jenny leaned forward, casually resting her chin on her hand.

The conversation he had with Terri in the car just before dinner was ringing through Jack's ears. He wasn't supposed to be making this about himself or causing any kind of scene. He was supposed to be on his best behavior.

And Janet was sitting here, probably wishing he wasn't at this dinner in the first place because she thought he was a jerk who thought she and Phillip were a sorry excuse for a couple. He knew that's what Janet was thinking _he_ thought, which was probably why she had gone so rigid next to him. It was radiating off of her how much she was dreading to hear what he had to say. There was no way he could sit there the way things were between them and tell the Woods what he really thought of their engagement.

So he swallowed slowly and forced his most charming smile. "I think these two are a really great couple." He picked up his glass for an impromptu toast. "I wish them all the happiness they could imagine."

The rest of the table followed his toast and he could feel Janet relaxing just the slightest bit. Ruth looked particularly taken aback by Jack's seeming sincerity and seemed to be taking her first full look at him of the evening.

He glanced around at Terri and he detected a hint of confusion and alarm underneath her own fake smile. She was probably thinking he was overdoing it but he didn't care right now. If his toast didn't prove that he cared about Janet's happiness and that he supported her, then he didn't know what else would. He'd deal with this lie later when the time came.

"Say, Jack, that's very kind of you to say. Thank you." Phillip remarked. "Getting your stamp of approval is kind of an honor."

Jack did a double take. "_My_ stamp of approval? Really?"

"Sure! Janet talks about you all the time. I know you're really special to her. So thank you for that."

There was a flash of a moment when Jack felt bad for the guy because he was so nice. It made him almost feel guilty about trying to stop Janet from marrying him.

To further prove his niceness, Phillip raised his glass once more. "To Jack."

"To Jack." The table murmured in agreement.

It was then that Janet's eyes finally met Jack's. He'd been waiting for it all day! He didn't realize how much he missed sharing those glances with her until she was actively avoiding it. But he knew it would be over in an instant. He smiled that soft, almost sad, twinkling smile that Janet loved so much (though she wouldn't dare admit that to anyone). He briefly reached over and touched the back of her hand that rested on the table, with just his fingertips, stopping himself from grabbing her hand entirely.

And Janet smiled back at him... and felt like crying a little and also like running away in case anyone was looking at her- at them.

But the moment was so brief, no one noticed anything significant.

"So…" Jenny set her glass down. "Are you gonna sign a prenuptial agreement?"

A few people at the table, still finishing their toast to Jack, sputtered into their drinks.

"Jenny!" Ruth hissed across the table.

"What?"

"Why on earth do you think that is an appropriate question to ask?"

"It's only the smart thing to do, isn't it? No one stays married these days." Jenny was scarily casual as she said this.

Ruth huffed. "Well, you're certainly one to prove that statement."

"Here we go again." Jenny rolled her eyes.

"You brought it up, young lady."

Roland shifted uncomfortably in his seat, Josh looked like he was trying not to laugh, and Katie was absolutely unfazed and busy using her crayons to draw a portrait of their waiter.

"So, what? I can't speak about marriage because I'm divorced?"

Ruth hesitated. "...That's not what I said."

"I think we all need to be a little more realistic here. And as a freshly divorced woman, I'd like to think my input is just as worthwhile as anyone else's."

"Who's not being realistic?" Janet asked.

Jenny raised an eyebrow.

Janet hated that superior look Jenny pulled when she thought she knew something no one else did. "_What?"_

"Marriage is no picnic if it's with the wrong person."

"Jenny. We're all having a good time." Roland spoke anxiously. "Let's keep it that way."

"Well, that's obvious." Janet responded to Jenny's comment. "But Dad's right. Let's just change the subject."

"Smooth way to ignore the question then." Jenny spoke quietly so that only the people sitting next to her could hear.

Terri only raised her eyebrows in response and Roland looked to be pretending he didn't hear the comment, though he put a hand to his stomach.

"Why won't Auntie Janet and Phil answer the question?" Katie asked the question loud enough for the whole table to hear..

"Probably because it's something they didn't think about until I asked. Everyone's being a little too romantic about this. You two haven't known each other very long, that's a fact. Who's to say you're going to stay married forever?"

Everyone at the table was stunned.

Ruth, of course, was the first one to respond. "Jenny, I think that you should trust that your sister and Phillip know what they're doing. They're intelligent people."

"Unbelievable."

"What's so unbelievable about it?" Janet asked defensively.

"Do you know how much crap I would've gotten if I announced that I was getting married to someone I've only known for a few weeks?"

"Well, you make rash decisions, Jenny." Ruth's answer came easily. "You always have."

"And you think Janet doesn't?"

Janet leaned forward in her seat. "Excuse me?"

"Oh, come on, Janet. Don't play dumb."

"I do _not _make rash decisions."

"Yes, you _do_."

"Girls, please." Roland stressed weakly.

They of course ignored their father.

"I just don't know how you could possibly know this is the right choice after knowing each other for such a short time. No offense." Jenny directed the comment at Phillip, who looked absolutely shocked that families actually argued in public like this. "But you two don't look like the type to have just instantly clicked and known you were supposed to spend the rest of your lives together."

"Just because you don't think so, doesn't mean it's not true." Janet huffed. Her fork clattered onto her plate louder than she intended.

Jack and Terri, who were the lucky dinner guests sitting between the two sisters, had to swivel their heads back and forth each time one of them fired back at the other.

"I'm sorry. It just sounds really reckless to me."

"You're one to talk." Janet crossed her arms. "Weren't you the one who cancelled all your wedding plans to elope?"

"Yeah and? What's your point?"

"_That's a rash decision_."

"It sure was. I never said I wasn't rash. You're the one who won't accept that about yourself because you think you're perfect." Jenny said matter-of-factly.

Ruth looked absolutely shell-shocked that her daughters were embarrassing the family in public and in front of Phillip. Josh finally stopped laughing long enough to dig into his mother's purse and hand his father his medicine to help with his ulcer, which was clearly bothering him.

Jack was starting to think that maybe Jenny could do all the hard work and break up Janet and Phillip for him.

"I do _not_ think I'm perfect!" Janet looked wildly around the table for some help and when her eyes finally got to Phillip, he stupidly added, "You are to me." She answered him with a glare.

"Yes, you do think you're perfect." Jenny said almost in earnest. "And you're probably really proud of yourself for finding a guy Mom and Dad would approve of unconditionally. That's why they have no problem with how long you've known him! I have to admit, _that_ is pretty smart if you're looking for their approval."

"Jenny, that is enough." Ruth's voice was low.

"That is-" Janet sputtered trying to gather her thoughts and a biting response. "So, so not- None of what you just said is true." Okay, maybe that was a _very _small part of it, but the big part of it was actually sitting on her right and had nothing to do with what her parents thought, thank you very much.

"Sure it isn't."

"It's _not."_

"Well, then it's lucky how all of this worked out for you then, isn't it?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Janet was playing dumb for real now.

"You meet this guy who proposes to you after dating for a few weeks and Mom and Dad don't bat an eye because he's wealthy. Meanwhile, when I got engaged to Daniel after we dated for a _year_, it was way too soon according to them."

"That situation is totally different from mine." Janet said defensively.

"Yeah, because Daniel didn't have money spilling out of his pockets."

"That's-"

"Girls!" Ruth's raised voice startled everyone at the table. "I don't want to hear any more of this. Do you understand me?"

Neither Janet nor Jenny spoke.

"I _said_, do you understand me?"

Janet took a deep breath and said in a quiet voice, "Yes, Mother."

"Jennifer." Roland said, his voice was equally stern.

"Yes, I understand."

Mrs. Wood relaxed in her chair and was instantly apologetic as she spoke to Phillip. Luckily, she missed the faces Jenny and Josh were making at each other. "I don't know what's gotten into them. Hearing them argue like that, it's like they forgot they're grown women."

Phillip laughed nervously with Ruth. "I didn't grow up with siblings so this was never really something I've experienced before."

"Well, I apologize. I don't know what caused Jenny to ask such a question in the first place." Ruth shook her head.

"See? Perfect child over there doesn't get any of the blame." Jenny muttered to Terri.

Janet, of course, heard this comment. "You're the one who started it."

"Takes two people to have an argument." Jenny said readily.

"Not necessarily." Jack chuckled weakly when no one laughed.

"Girls! What did I _just _say? I will not have you making a spectacle of us here."

Both sisters leaned back in their chairs, arms crossed, and looking like they'd very much like they didn't care about being a spectacle for the sake of finishing their… conversation.

Everyone ate in an awkward silence after that until Phillip said pleasantly, "Janet, you know what would probably turn all these frowns upside down?" He gave her a knowing look.

"Huh?" Janet asked, looking puzzled while she patted Jack's back as he choked on his wine upon hearing Phillip use the phrase, 'turn these frowns upside down'.

"You know that thing we were going to ask?"

Janet looked puzzled for a moment before she remembered. "Oh! Yes. That's a great idea! Hey, everyone!" She jumped at the chance to push the last conversation out of everyone's minds.

The heads at the table all turned to Janet. "Okay, so I know that Phillip and I are having a smaller ceremony than I originally wanted, but I- we still wanted to go through the formalities of the traditional wedding ceremony so we wanted to ask a few people here to be in the wedding." Everyone waited expectantly. "Alright, so… Terri, if you're willing, would you be my maid of honor?"

Terri's face lit up in delight. "Maid of honor? Janet, of course I'm willing! Oh my god!" Her voice was just below a shriek, but she regained control of herself when Jack aimed a kick at her under the table. "Wow. Such an honor." She smiled weakly.

"Jenny, we also wanted you to be a bridesmaid." Phillip kindly said what Janet didn't want to.

Jenny's smile was thin. "I look forward to it."

"Janet, did you want to ask the guys?" Phillip asked. "Or should I?"

"Uh, you can ask."

"Alrighty. Josh and Jack, we sure would be honored if you two would be groomsmen for the ceremony."

"Oh, how wonderful." Ruth cooed. "Roland, isn't this wonderful?"

"_So _wonderful!" Mr. Wood looked a little overcome with emotion. "Janet getting married, and Josh and Jenny in the ceremony!"

Josh patted his father's shoulder. "Thank you guys. I'd love to be a groomsman. Besides, how could I decline after that reaction?"

"This is so exciting! You know, it will be so good to get to see Janet get married. We didn't get to do that with Jenny, what with her eloping and all."

Jenny definitely looked like she had something she wanted to say to this but Josh beat her to it. "Yeah, well what's done is done." He shrugged. "You excited to be a groomsman, Jack?"

Jack opened his mouth but Roland began to speak instead. "Of course he's excited! Who wouldn't be? He's one of Janet's closest friends! It's a big deal!"

Phillip was getting swept up in Roland's excitement and said enthusiastically. "I'm so glad everyone is willing to do it then! And I've got my friend, Todd as best man. And my cousin Ginger has already agreed to be a bridesmaid as well!"

"_And_," Janet finally spoke again, letting Phillip get the more difficult requests out of the way. "We really want Katie to be our flower girl." She smiled at the four year old. "What do you say?"

The child's mouth formed an O in genuine surprise. "Flower girl? I want to be flower girl!"

"The job's yours then." Phillip laughed.

"Yay!" Katie clasped her hands. "What does a flower girl do? Do I sell flowers like Auntie Janet does?"

Jenny caught a crayon that was rolling towards the middle of the table. "No, darling. That means you're in charge of throwing around the flowers when you walk down the aisle at the wedding."

"Oh! Okay!" Again, she didn't seem to grasp what that meant, but didn't seem to care.

"And Auntie Janet doesn't sell flowers anymore, remember?"

"Oh, yeah. Her job is exermizing." Katie stated.

"Exercising." Jenny corrected

...

"Well, Phillip, it was an absolute pleasure to finally meet you." Ruth said, giving the man a hug. They were finally headed out into the parking lot. "I hope we'll see plenty of you before the wedding day!"

"Me too!" Phillip had somehow managed to remain chipper throughout the ordeal.

Everyone said their goodbyes to Phillip and Janet's parents as they walked in different directions to their cars. "I'm sorry about that." Janet murmured in Phillip's ear before they pulled away from their hug.

"Hey, it was an interesting night." Phillip returned with a smile that made Janet feel guilty. "I'll call you tomorrow?"

"Yeah… of course. Have a good night."

"Good night, Janet."

Jenny was already putting a sleeping Katie into her car seat when Janet turned back around. Terri was trying to convince Josh to drive her and Jack home.

"You know, I think I've had just one too many glasses tonight. I don't think it would be right if I drove home." She giggled looking up at Josh's brown eyes.

"Oh, I don't really know this place very well. The roads are a lot different here than they are in Indiana."

"Don't worry, I'll make sure you don't make any mistakes. Plus, how else are we going to get home? Jack's not allowed to drive Larry's car." She widened her eyes like she didn't have a clue how they'd be getting home.

Josh turned to look at Janet to see if she would object. Janet rolled her eyes and waved a hand before opening the door to her car. "Go ahead. Don't let her trick you into helping her up the stairs or something. She's not drunk. She works the night shift, she isn't anywhere close to drunk." She informed her brother.

Josh laughed back. "Okay, I won't. And hey, Janet. You got through it." He gave her a quick thumbs up before following Jack and Terri to Larry's car.

Janet's smile at Josh's comment faded quickly. She sat down in her car where Jenny and Katie were waiting, Jenny now in the passenger's seat now that Josh wasn't riding back with them.

"So what the hell was that all about?" Janet asked her sister quietly with a glance back at Katie, who was now snoring.

Jenny shifted in her seat and then sighed. "I just don't want you to make any bad life-altering choices, Janet."

Janet was struck by the sincerity in her sister's voice and it took her a moment to speak again. "Do you not like Phillip?" She started the car.

"He's nice."

"You hate him."

"I didn't say that."

"You didn't have to." Janet made a face as she pulled out of the parking spot. "What don't you like about him?"

"Not once have I said I hated him, Janet." Jenny reminded her. "He's nice! He's as likeable as a rich guy can be. I'll give him credit for that."

"You're never satisfied. You're just like Mom and Dad."

"Uh… ouch?" Jenny smacked Janet's arm playfully and they both chuckled quietly.

They didn't speak for a few minutes. Tiny rain droplets began to splash on the windshield as Janet maneuvered through traffic.

"Do you think I'm making a mistake then?" Janet finally got the courage to ask aloud.

"Would you listen to me if I thought you were?" Jenny asked plainly.

"That depends…" Janet shrugged. She and Jenny both knew they were both incredibly stubborn and set in their ways. They were either butting heads or each other's number one fan, nothing in between.

"Look." Jenny began. "...You're my sister. I love you. I don't want you to have to go through what I just went through with Daniel, that's all. Call it me being protective of you or something."

Janet opened her mouth but shut it again.

"And I'm not necessarily saying that I think you and Phillip shouldn't get married or anything." Jenny filled the silence. "But… I don't know. But I guess I also just don't see the appeal of marriage anymore." She laughed. "It's kinda hard to be excited about it. Sorry to be so negative."

Janet smiled. "I guess I keep forgetting you're not a little kid anymore. You're an actual adult. A real, divorced adult. You actually have some life experience directly related to this. You're not just being negative to be negative."

"Funny how that happens, huh."

Janet smiled but looked lost in thought as she drove.

"Just make sure this is the guy, okay? Don't waste your time, or your money. Don't get married because it's gonna make Mom happy or whatever. Get married because it's what you wanna do and it's with who you want it to be with." Jenny said wisely.

"I-"

"You don't have to explain anything to me, Janet. It's more something for you to figure out with yourself, you know? You know your life better than I do."

Janet shook her head. "When do you become so wise?"

"I've always been wise."

Janet laughed. "That is so not true."

"Yes it is true! You and Josh just never listened to me because I was the youngest." Jenny explained. "You guys thought you were so smart." She rolled her eyes.

"Well, you're pretty bold. Did you know that?" Janet informed her sister. "Jesus, did you have to make dinner so awkward?"

"How else was I supposed to get you thinking about the important stuff. You'd just ignore me otherwise." Jenny shrugged, having perfected her way of getting her points across long ago. "There's a method to the madness."

"Sure there is." Janet rolled her eyes, but internally her stomach churned a bit at the thought of Jenny's comments at dinner and her words of advice in the car. She almost wanted to tell Jenny about how she felt about Jack, how she was sort of doing all of this as a way to move on from her roommate. But Jenny's advice would be to _not _get married and tell Jack how she felt or something crazy like that.

But what else was she supposed to do? Call off the wedding and then just keep on living with Jack like nothing had changed? Sure, nothing had changed for _him_, but it was a different story for her.

Her mind kept coming back to '_make sure he's the right guy'_ in relation to Phillip. How was anyone supposed to know who 'the one' was anyhow? She could make marriage with Phillip work! She liked him! He was nice! He liked her! That was okay! Wasn't it?

She breathed deeply. Okay, so she'd have to do a better job of convincing herself of that now that Jenny had to go and put all that stuff in her head about marrying the right person. But she could do it. She could.


	9. Chapter 9: The Wedding is Very Very Soon

Note: I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy! Maybe this ridiculous story can take your mind off of how scary things are right now for a few minutes. xoxo

* * *

**Chapter 9: It Finally Hits Janet How Soon This Wedding is Happening**

A child's shrieks of laughter from the living room woke Janet with a start. She was confused for a moment before she remembered that her family was here in Santa Monica and that her siblings and niece were staying at her place, because she was getting married. Her family had met Phillip last night. And Jenny had left her with some very interesting things to think about.

Jenny was true to her word and didn't push her sister to explain why she knew Phillip was the one, and for that, Janet was grateful. Because honestly? She didn't think she could verbalize it to someone else when she wasn't sure she believed it herself.

She laid there in bed and looked at the ceiling. If you didn't count Jenny's questioning, dinner had actually gone quite well! Her parents approved of Phillip and he hadn't been scared off by her family.

And Jack.

They hadn't had much chance to interact once they got home, but he was wonderful at dinner. She didn't realize that until she stopped ignoring him of course. Maybe things weren't as bad as she was making them out to be. Maybe they could get back to how it was before she got engaged.

But things still weren't right, and she knew why. It was what Jenny had touched on at dinner and what she had said more directly in the car afterwards. She knew it before her family had even flown into town.

She got out of bed a little sulkily and took extra care in making up the bedding to look impeccably neat.

She hated that she was considering accepting that her sister was right about this. Why couldn't she just make things work with Phillip? She could make it work! How was she supposed to ever be happy with anyone else if Jenny was putting stuff in her head about there only being one person who is right for everyone? What was she supposed to do with that if her right person didn't think she was his right person?

What the hell was she supposed to do if the "one" for her didn't think she was the "one" for him, huh? That wasn't fair! She should get a do over!

But then who was Jenny to say that there was only one person who is right for everyone? How could she know that? Yeah, she knew there were wrong people to spend your life with, but who was to say there was only one possible person that you could spend it with? Phillip didn't have to be one of the wrong people, right? He could fit into the group of right people, couldn't he? Janet was pretty sure he could. She could make it work, dammit.

Maybe if she kept telling herself that with more force, she'd have an easier time believing it.

She finally put on her robe and told herself to go and join everyone else in the living room.

The first thing Janet was greeted with when she opened her bedroom door was the sight of Jack and Katie sitting on the floor behind the couch playing some kind of hand clapping game. They were either making it up as they went or Katie was trying to teach Jack. Janet couldn't tell. Either way, Jack looked like he was having trouble keeping up.

Josh and Jenny were on the couch, talking and drinking coffee, letting Katie's Saturday morning cartoons play unwatched on the TV.

"Morning, Janet." Jack greeted her with the most Jack-like smile she'd seen from him in days. "Sorry, we didn't want to wake you up. We already had breakfast. I was gonna whip something up for you when you got up."

'_Why does he have to be like this?' _Janet thought to herself. '_I shouldn't have let Chrissy talk me into letting him move in with us.'_

"Thanks, Jack."

"You still sleep in late, huh?" Jenny asked from the couch.

"It's not that late." Janet said defensively. "Plus, it's Saturday." She'd forgotten the rest of her family were early risers. She and Jack usually slept in late on their days off, and with Terri's work schedule being so all over the place she kept very odd hours.

Josh also turned around to face his sister. "Phillip called earlier. Said he had something to tell you about the honeymoon."

"Can I help Jack make more breakfast for Auntie Janet?" Katie had gotten up to ask her mother.

"If he wants you to help him, then that's okay." Jenny tucked a curl behind Katie's ear.

"Well, then we better get started, kiddo. You can be my sous chef."

"Yay!" Katie pranced after Jack into the kitchen to get to work.

Janet took a seat between her siblings. "Gee, Katie and Jack sure are having fun, huh?"

"Yeah. He's got the perfect energy for a little kid." Josh noted.

"Glad he can keep her entertained. I was worried when she didn't want to watch TV." Jenny remarked. "There's not much for a child to do around here."

"Maybe that's because we don't usually have kids staying with us." Janet answered.

Josh sensed this conversation could turn into a silly argument so he changed the subject. "So what's the plan for today?"

"I actually think we're just gonna take a breather for today before things get too crazy."

The siblings watched Alvin and the Chipmunks wreak havoc for a while. Occasionally they would hear Jack and Katie's voices rising with excitement from the kitchen as they concocted whatever breakfast they had planned for Janet.

"Good morning, everyone." Terri announced herself, interrupting the Saturday cartoons. "Look who I ran into on the way up the stairs." Surprisingly, coming in behind her was Phillip.

"Phillip? What are you doing here?" Janet got up from her spot on the couch and was quickly replaced by Terri, who had been looking forward to sitting down, having been on her feet all night.

"Ah, I called earlier and left a message with Josh, but gosh darn it, I just couldn't wait any longer." He snapped his fingers with a smile. "I wanted to tell you in person."

"What is it?"

"I have the date for when we leave for Greece."

Jenny, Terri, and Josh all turned around in their seats.

"Really?" Janet gasped. In all the fuss over the last few days, she'd forgotten they hadn't actually set a date for the wedding yet.

"April 23rd." Phillip revealed.

"April 23rd?"

"Yup. April 23rd! We'll be hopping on a plane to Greece for a whole month."

Janet's stomach swooped. "April 23rd. Wow, that's uh…"

"Just over two weeks." Phillip did the math for her. "16 days."

"16 days." Janet repeated with raised eyebrows. "16 days."

"Isn't this exciting?" Phillip did not catch any of the panic emanating off of his fiance.

Janet quickly plastered a smile on her face to match Phillip's. "It _is_!" She turned to the three on the couch. "Isn't this exciting, guys?"

There was a silence before Josh finally said something. "I'll say!" To which Terri could only nod her head.

"Wow, that's really soon." Jenny said, always the honest one. "I mean, I knew it was happening soon, but this is _really _soon."

"I know it's a teeny bit sooner than I had originally thought." Phillip explained. "But we've been working ahead of schedule at the office and we think we can get everything we need ready before we need to head over early. So we thought, why not? Let's just go a week early." His short breathed laugh rang in the quiet room.

"16 days." Janet said again.

"Yes. So, I'm thinking we should have the ceremony done with at least a couple of days before we actually leave. That way there isn't so much scrambling around and rushing in between the wedding and getting on the plane, you know?" He explained quite logically.

Janet nodded her head faintly.

"And the 23rd is a Monday. So what would you say to getting married on that Saturday before?"

"I say that's great." Was Janet's worried answer to Phillip's bright face. "So uh, the wedding is-"

"Two weeks from today."

"Two weeks."

"Right!"

"Okay." Janet ran a hand through her messy hair. "Okay. Um, okay."

"Janet, are you alright?" Terri asked since Phillip was too clueless to do so.

"Sorry, yeah. That's just um, very soon. And there's still so much we haven't gotten done."

"Well, we can get everything done. I know we can." Phillip put an arm around her. "Plus, we've got so many extra sets of hands here to help us out."

Katie and Jack came marching from the kitchen with a plateful of pancakes and a steaming cup of coffee for Janet. "Here's your breakfast, Auntie." Katie was leading Jack to where Janet and Phillip were standing by the front door. "Hi, Phil."

"Morning, Phil." Jack said, though the unexpected visit took a hit on his weirdly good mood. "What brings you here?"

"Just came to tell Janet here that we're leaving for our honeymoon on the 23rd." Phillip's voice was chipper.

In his surprise at hearing this information, Jack tripped over the little step in the living room that he had tripped over more times than anyone could count. And while he was able to keep his grasp on the mug, its contents splashed out at Janet and Phillip. The plate wasn't so lucky and flew letting the buttery, syrupy pancake mess land on Phillip's suit jacket before it plopped onto the floor.

"Jack!" Janet gasped. "Oh, Phillip." She ignored the splattered coffee stain on her robe and held out her hands helplessly towards Phillip, who clearly bore the brunt of the accident.

Jack quickly recovered from his fall to the ground and put a hand over his mouth, empty coffee cup in his other hand.

Katie went and grabbed the plate. "How come you said I couldn't carry the plate because I would drop it? You dropped it." She pointed at the mush on the ground.

"Yeah." Jack dropped his hand. "Gee, Phil. I am so sorry. Let me go get a towel or something." He rushed towards the kitchen but then turned around to rush to the bathroom instead.

"Oh, Phillip. Your jacket…" Janet examined the stain.

Phillip grimaced. "It's alright."

"No, it's not. It's a mess!"

"Okay, yes it is. But I can swing by the cleaners in time before they close today if I leave soon." He began to take off the soiled suit jacket.

Jack came bustling out of the bathroom with a fresh towel, not knowing what to do with it.

"Why don't you start with picking up the pancakes off the floor and cleaning the stain on the carpet." Terri suggested from the couch. Jack nodded his head and threw the towel over his shoulder and bent down to pick up the food.

"Are you sure you don't want us to take it to the cleaners'? We could pay for it." Janet offered.

"No, don't worry about it." Phillip assured her. "Besides, I think we should probably get a move on things since the wedding is two weeks from today. Don't you think?"

"It's two weeks from today?" Jack asked, peeling the pancakes from the carpet.

"Yeah!" Phillip answered. "So don't worry about my jacket. Besides, I need to get in touch with Todd. He's been bugging me about when he can throw a bachelor party. And now that we have the wedding date in order I can let him know."

"Bachelor party?"

"Yes." Phillip laughed. "He's been heavily hinting towards throwing the shindig on his new yacht, that rascal."

"Oh, how delightful." Jack commented.

"It sure will be. And I'm sure Terri here has been just dying to throw you a bachelorette party. And now that she knows the date of the wedding she knows what her deadline is!"

No one seemed to notice Terri's eyes widen in a sudden panic on the couch.

"Well, I should get going." Phillip carefully folded his jacket. "We've got so much to do!"

"Right you are." Janet said. And she walked him to the door before they said their goodbyes.

A hush came over the room after Janet closed the door behind Phillip. She walked back over to the seating area and took a seat in the rocking chair. The only noise came from the TV and from Jack scrubbing the floor with a towel.

Janet stood up again with a sense of urgency about her. "I'm calling Mom and Dad to let them know the news. They need to come over here right now."

"What for?" Jenny was brave enough to inquire.

"So they can hurry and help us! There's way too much to do and no time to do it in! What was I thinking taking a break today?"

"I thought you said you already planned some stuff out."

"Yes, some. _Some_. Not most. Some." Janet stressed. "Where is the number for the hotel?" Her hands were frantic scrambling around the phone table.

"Okay." Jenny stood up. "You go change out of that robe. _I'll _call Mom and Dad."

"No. I'm going to call them! This is my news!"

"No. _You_ need to calm down." Jenny located the slip of paper with the hotel information with ease and pushed Janet in the direction of her room. "Don't worry, I won't tell them the date. I'll just tell them to get over here fast."

...

Mr. and Mrs. Wood arrived at the apartment within the hour and everyone sat around the living room while Janet paced back and forth as they tried figuring out how to get everything done efficiently.

"Okay, okay. So we still need flowers, a photographer, someone to officiate the wedding, we have to get dresses and suits for… everyone." Janet reread from the list she had scribbled down. "Oh, music! Do we need a band for the reception or should we just get our own music?"

Everyone watched on and let Janet ramble.

"Terri, when are you planning to throw the bachelorette party?" Janet asked the blonde.

"Uh…?"

"Hurry and pick a day so we can work around it!"

"I- I don't know! I just found out I was throwing one an hour ago!"

"Janet dear, I know you girls are probably more interested in having some silly little party with alcohol and what not, but you know what I think would be a good idea?"

"What, Mother?" Janet asked through her teeth.

"We could have a nice little brunch. All of us women." Ruth smiled.

"Okay, okay." Janet waved a hand as she went to jot it down. "When?"

"How about by the end of this week?"

"Okay." Janet noted.

"Hold on." Jenny spoke up. "A _brunch_? Mother, please."

"What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing if Janet was your age. I think we should go _out_. Besides, Terri is maid of honor, not you."

"It was merely a suggestion."

"A suggestion Janet already wrote down on her to-do list."

"Janet, what do _you _want?" Terri asked.

Janet for one, could not think straight enough to think about what she wanted for a bachelorette party. "It really doesn't matter to me. I don't even need to have one. There's barely any time for any of this as it is."

"No. You're going to have that party, Janet." Jenny commanded.

"Oh, Janet, dear. What about a bridal shower?" Ruth asked suddenly.

"A what?"

"It's a party where-"

"I know what it is, Mother. I- there's no time to have all these little parties. I don't need any parties." She said rationally.

"It's not fair that Phillip gets one but you don't." Jenny pointed out.

"Jenny, there aren't enough hours in the day for me to put it together."

"You don't have to put it together! That's the maid of honor's job. You said you wanted to keep as much tradition in this as possible, didn't you?"

"Yes, but-"

"But what?"

"Well… well, Terri has a job too. When's she gonna find the time to plan a whole party?"

Terri was finally agreeing with something Janet said in regards to the wedding. But of course, Jenny wasn't going to let it go that easily.

"I can help her plan if she wants. It doesn't have to be anything extravagant."

Janet closed her eyes. "Fine. Whatever. Just figure out a date soon."

"Sure thing." Jenny agreed and turned to Terri. "So what's your work schedule for the next two weeks?"

"Uh…"

Janet ignored the side conversation and continued pacing around. "Okay, okay."

"Hey, Jan'." Josh was seated in the rocking chair with Katie on his lap. "Have you and Phillip gotten your wedding bands yet?"

Janet's face fell and she quickly scribbled a note on her pad of paper.

"Have you thought about a final guest list?" Roland piped up.

"Don't forget we might have to get alterations on the dresses and tuxes once we decide on a color scheme, so make sure there's time for that!"

"Oh! What about the cake?"

Janet was scribbling furiously and Jack and Terri could tell she was on the verge of explosion.

Jack stood up from the couch leg he was perched on. "Okay, okay. Why don't we put a rest to listing out all of this stuff for now." He gently took the pen and pad from Janet's hands and set them down next to the phone.

"But-" Janet began to protest but looked too stressed to do so.

"What can get done today?" Jack asked simply.

"What?"

"What do you think can be accomplished today?"

"Well…"

"Do you think your old job could give you a deal on flowers?" Josh asked. "Maybe you could swing by there today and talk to them."

Janet inhaled to calm herself. "Okay, good idea." She looked at her watch. "They're only open until four today though. I'd have to head over soon if I want to get anything else done today."

"Can I come?" Katie asked. "I'm the flower girl!"

Even in her distress, Janet couldn't help chuckling at the child's request. "Of course you can come. I'm gonna need some help picking out the prettiest flowers."

Katie hopped down from Josh's lap. "Can Uncle Josh come?"

"If he wants to." Janet smiled.

"Well, sure I want to. Gotta see how Janet's old job is holding up since she left."

"Can Grandpa come?"

"Now I'm not sure my two flower experts need my help." Roland said. "But I can come for moral support."

"Yay!" Katie exclaimed. "What is more old support?" She didn't wait for an answer and looked around the room trying to decide who else she wanted to come. "Can-"

"Katie." Her mother started. "I think four people is enough to go to the flower shop. Don't you think so?"

"Okay."

Jenny stood up and stretched. "I guess that means if you all are out doing that, Terri and I can plan your bachelorette party."

"Jenny, is that really the most important thing to do right now?"

"You said you wanted a date as soon as possible, didn't you?" Jenny asked with a hand on her hip.

Janet merely gave her sister an exasperated look and threw an apologetic one to Terri immediately afterwards.

"You know what? I think I'll work on ideas for the wedding cake." Ruth announced. "Would that be alright?"

"Oh." Janet said. "Okay."

"Sorry, did you have other plans for the cake?"

"No, not really."

Ruth also stood up. "Then I'll get started!"

"And Jack could help you out!" Roland suggested.

Janet's eyes flickered to Jack, who looked like that was the last thing he wanted to do and she didn't blame him. "If he wants to." She said again.

"I don't see why he wouldn't!" Roland spoke for Jack. "Your mother's an excellent baker and Jack's got his own restaurant and everything. It'll be quite the collaboration!"

Jack was still working on the stain on the carpet and smiled weakly at Roland's enthusiasm. "You're right. That sounds great." He could do this for Janet.

"Yes." Ruth said. "That should be just fine."

Janet pulled her mother aside before she could go into the kitchen. "Be nice."

Ruth tilted her head at Janet. "Aren't I always?"

"No." Jenny said while she tied one of Katie's shoes nearby.

...

"Janet never mentioned you being such a pro in the kitchen." Jack watched Mrs. Wood in amazement as she sat at the table scribbling down various recipe ideas for wedding cakes.

Janet, Josh, Katie, and Roland had already left for the flower shop, and Jenny and Terri remained in the living room to plan out Janet's party, leaving Jack and Ruth to get started in the kitchen. They could hear Jenny's faint fast voice dumping all of her ideas onto poor Terri from the other room.

"Well, raising three children with three very different tastes meant trying out a lot of homemade birthday cakes. You kind of get the hang of things eventually."

"That's so funny. I mean- not funny haha! But it's so interesting that you can bake so good because well, Janet's uh… never been great working in the kitchen. I just assumed that-"

"That her parents are as hopeless cooks as she is?" Ruth finished for him.

"Yeah… I mean, no! I mean… ah!" He put a hand on his forehead.

But Ruth smiled at his fumbling. "It's quite alright. Janet never was one to sit around to learn a few essential baking tips from her mother." She admitted. "Her brother and sister did manage to sit down and pick up a few things here and there. They're not as dreadful in the kitchen." Ruth added as if it was important that he didn't think her to be an incompetent parent. "But Janet never got around to it."

Mrs. Wood bent back down to jot down another idea and Jack waited patiently, still uncomfortable with being stuck with Janet's mother.

"Jack?" Ruth asked, setting her pen down.

"Yes, ma'am?"

"I couldn't help but notice that things seem a little… strained between you and Janet."

Great. "Did Janet say something to you?"

"No." Ruth raised an eyebrow. "I asked her about it, but she said it was nothing. But she hasn't always been truthful with me since she's moved out here."

"Oh." Jack looked down at his twiddling thumbs, very much failing to look ignorant to what she was getting at.

"_Is_ there something I should know?"

"Oh, no!" He said a little too fast. "Everything's just peachy."

"Really?"

"Really."

Ruth gave him an accusatory look that made Jack want to hide. "That's interesting because you two seem a lot different from the last time I visited."

"Oh…" Jack trailed off. "_That_... was a good three years ago though." He managed to say. "Maybe we just grew up or something." He realized how weird it was to not hear the girls laughing at the idea that Jack had grown up at all, that he was a mature adult in any sense.

Instead, Ruth pondered the suggestion. "Maybe that's it." Though it seemed like she was still trying to put her finger on it.

"Yeah. I think that's what it is. So, do you think Janet would want a more traditional cake or should we try a few out of the box ideas?"

"Jack."

"We could do multiple flavors, you know? Each tier is a different flavor. Wouldn't that be crazy?"

"You know, Janet is very fond of you."

He didn't know why she still wanted to talk about it but the comment brought his rambling to a halt. "Yeah?"

"Of course. She goes on and on about you and your restaurant. She really is quite proud of you." The way she said it was like rattling off cold hard facts. But hearing it put so clinically and from Janet's mom of all people made him more willing to believe it more was possible.

Ruth, however, hated to have to admit this to Jack considering the impression she got from him those years ago. But maybe he was right. Maybe Janet's silly mess of a roommate had grown a great deal since she first met him. And hearing Phillip say that _Jack's _approval was important sort of floored her last night.

In truth, Jack was indeed very important to her daughter. And no matter how uncomfortable she was with their living arrangement, she had to hand it to them for living so harmoniously for so many years (and that Jack's cooking kept Janet from starving).

But was there something more going on? She had thought she had seen dashes of it when she'd first visited the little apartment with Roland three years ago. Even after they confessed to not being married, Ruth still thought the way they acted and the way Janet spoke about Jack over the phone in the following years was awfully close for two people who were just roommates. But Janet was marrying Phillip now and she wouldn't be living with Jack for much longer, so maybe whatever happened in the past didn't matter. It was pretty evident that neither of them were going to tell her what was up anyways.

"Well." Ruth set her hands down flat on the table. "Let's get to work."

"Yes. Let's." Jack agreed, much relieved to be doing something he knew how to do. He got up and pulled out a few of the essentials in baking cakes like, flour, sugar, eggs, the usual suspects.

"It's funny. Janet has been living with you all these years and she still can't cook a thing." Ruth marveled at the realization. She recalled the previous Thanksgiving when Janet had gone home to Indiana and was delegated to playing Barbies with Katie since the Thanksgiving before that she had burned one pumpkin pie to a crisp and forgot to add sugar to her second attempt.

"Oh, I've tried teaching her. Believe me." Jack said in earnest.

"I think you probably spoil her with all this home cooking." Ruth eyed Jack's expert maneuvering around the kitchen as he pulled open cabinets and placed items on the table. She eyed the countless cookies, cakes, and other pastries stored in containers still taking up the space on the counters of the tiny kitchen. She didn't know how he got a thing done without the counter space.

"You're probably right. But I love to do it." He shrugged.

"Oh?"

For some reason the one word response embarrassed him, like he'd somehow revealed too much. "I love to cook, that is." He lost his grip on the mixing bowls in his hands and they crashed to the ground. "Keeps me in practice."

"Of course."

...

The flower shop crew returned home a few hours later and Janet looked more stressed out than she was before they left.

"Uh oh." Terri murmured. She and Jenny were watching the news, having finished their task rather quickly.

Roland walked in after Janet. "We had a bit of a meltdown today."

Jenny whipped her head around. "Really? That doesn't sound like Katie at all!"

"Oh, it wasn't Katie." Roland cocked his head towards Janet, indicating that she was the difficult member of their party.

Katie skipped into the apartment with Josh coming in last to close the door.

"Mommy, look!" The child pushed a bouquet of vibrant flowers in Jenny's face. "Look at the flowers we got at the flower store!"

"Oh, these are gorgeous." Jenny enthused.

"So what happened?" Terri asked Janet.

Janet let out an air of frustration. "They said they couldn't do an order of flowers for a wedding on such short notice." She sat down on the arm of the couch next to the blonde. "Not even for me, and I was a manager there for five years!"

Terri gave her roommate a sympathetic pat on the knee. "So no flowers then?"

"No flowers?" Ruth came out of the kitchen wearing an apron. "What do you mean no flowers?"

"Now Ruth, we just couldn't get flowers from Janet's old job. There's nothing to worry about. I'm sure there are plenty of other places to get flowers." Roland repeated what he'd been telling Janet for the last few hours.

"Dad, we visited five places and they all said the same thing. No big flower orders on such short notice."

Jenny squinted. "What? That's weird."

"Did you tell them it was going to be a small wedding?" Ruth asked Janet. "You don't need hundreds of flowers."

"Yes, I did tell them that."

"Well, this is just great." Ruth threw her hands into the air. "If you can't get flowers from your old workplace, then what other flower shops are going to be willing with so little notice?"

"I don't know, Mother." Janet was clearly agitated.

"Darling, I hate to say it, but you wouldn't be in this pickle if you were still working there."

"_Mom._"

"I mean what are you going to do with your skills as an aerobics instructor?"

"Mom, this isn't helping!" Janet said loudly.

"I just wish you'd think things through more thoroughly before you did them."

"Well ,well, well." Jenny said as she was putting a flower in Katie's hair. "Aren't we sounding a lot like me last night?"

Josh nudged his sister. "Come on. Cut it out."

Jenny rolled her eyes. "I thought you said the wedding was going to be in a garden or something."

"It _might _be." Janet stressed. "Phillip still hasn't seen the place in person."

"He hasn't seen it yet?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because. He has a job, Jenny."

"So?" Jenny asked, now working on making a yellow flower sit securely in Josh's short hair. "Does he work every day?"

Janet rolled her eyes. "Of course not."

"Then why don't you call him and ask him to go look at the garden." Jenny suggested as if it was obvious. And it was. "Then you can hurry up and book the place and you won't have to worry about getting a bunch of flowers because that place has plants all over the place. You'd only have to worry about things like the bouquets and maybe some stuff for the reception."

"Yeah. Sure. Yeah, you're right." Janet answered.

Everyone looked at Janet as she smoothed out a wrinkle in her dress.

"What?"

"Well, are you gonna call him or what?" Jenny asked.

"You want me to call him _now_?"

"Yeah? I thought you were in a hurry or something."

"I am. I just don't know if he's at home."

"He's home. Terri and I called his number earlier to ask when that Todd guy is throwing his bachelor party. We thought we'd do both parties on the same night."

"Oh, really?" Janet directed this at Terri.

Terri just shrugged meekly. She had let Jenny do most of the planning, only interjecting when she suggested anything too wild, for the sake of saving money she didn't have, and because surely Jack would put a stop to things before next week. "The parties are next Saturday."

Janet sighed a tired sigh. "Oh, boy."

"Geez, you could sound a little more excited."

"Jenny, don't start." Roland cut in. "It's been a very stressful day for your sister." He put an arm on Janet's shoulder.

Jack walked into the living room with the intention of asking Mrs. Wood what was taking so long. "Oh, Janet! Everyone's back. How did flower hunting go…?" His voice dropped off when he noticed Terri shaking her head and Janet's frustrated expression.

"Let's not worry about that now." Ruth wiped a hand on her apron. "How about we focus on the positives? It sounds like the girls have the bachelorette party planned and we have a few cakes ready for everyone to sample."

Jack caught on quickly and didn't push the flower subject. "That's right! And cake always cheers me up. Shall we bring the samples out here or would we like to gather in the kitchen instead?"

"I want to eat on the couch!" Katie decided for the group.

"Yes, ma'am." Jack answered the child and went back to the kitchen to bring out the cake samples.

...

"I thought you and Jack were close." Josh murmured so quietly that Janet wasn't sure she heard him right.

"What?"

"You and Jack."

"Yeah?"

"It sounded like you two were a lot closer from all the stories I've heard."

Janet fiddled with Katie's curly hair. The child had fallen asleep laying across her aunt and uncle watching TV. "We _are _close."

Her brother made a noise that sounded a lot like he thought she was lying about something.

"What? We are!" Janet was careful not to raise her voice.

After the cake tasting and a lively debate about what the official flavor of the wedding cake should be (no final decision was made), Mr. and Mrs. Wood left for their hotel to get some rest and to do some further research on dress shops in the area.

Terri and Jenny had both retreated to the bedrooms to get some rest while everyone waited on Jack to finish preparing dinner.

There was a faint clatter of dishes and the sound of chopping and food sizzling from the kitchen. Such a familiar and comforting sound to Janet.

Josh looked at the door when he spoke again. "Are you sure there isn't something up with you two? Mom thinks you're mad at each other."

Janet rolled her eyes in an attempt to make light of the subject. "Yeah. She asked me about that too. Look, I appreciate the concern, but it's nothing. We're the same as we've always been." She lied through her teeth. "Besides, Dad hasn't said anything and he just visited a couple of months ago."

Josh smirked. "Yeah, like Dad's one to notice these kinds of things."

"You mean he's not nosey?"

The siblings stared each other down for a moment before Josh surrendered. "Maybe you're right. Maybe Mom is just looking for drama that isn't there."

Janet nodded along, glad that he was dropping it. It's not like any of her family saw the two of them day in and day out, so who were they to say if things were out of the ordinary? Things _were _strained, yes. But that was not something Janet was willing to talk about with her family, or anyone else for that matter.

"Or maybe…" Came Josh's quiet mischievous voice. "I can talk to Terri. See what she has to say about this."

Janet's mouth fell open and out came a forceful, "No!"

"What? I thought you said things were fine."

"They _are._ That's why I don't think you need to talk to Terri about it, because there's nothing to talk about."

"I think I can still talk to her." Josh shrugged. "I'm allowed that, aren't I?"

Janet squinted her eyes at him, knowing full well what he was doing. "In theory."

"I mean, she did offer me her bed to sleep in since she's working night shifts. The least I could do is have at least one conversation with her. Ignoring her would be rude."

"Do not."

"Why not? There's nothing wrong with getting to know your roommates, is there?"

"No."

"What's the problem then?" Josh asked with a good-natured grin, knowing just how to get under his sister's skin. "There certainly isn't something she knows that you don't want me to know?"

Janet tried to fold her arms, but had difficulty in doing so without moving Katie. "Terri only offered you her bed because she likes you."

Josh's face pinkened. "So?"

"I'm afraid that if you strike up conversation with her just for the sake of snooping, she might think you were leading her on." She explained as though what she was saying made perfect sense.

"That's crazy. I think she's reasonable enough to know that when someone talks to her it doesn't mean they're interested, like that."

Janet shrugged. "You saw the way she was throwing herself at you after dinner last night."

"Well, that's too bad because I live in Indiana and she lives in California. Plus, I'm not interested."

"Well, duh."

Josh shook his head.

"Why is everyone suddenly so interested in Jack and whether he and I are acting right?" Janet questioned. "I'm getting married in two weeks to _Phillip_. He's the one you all should be focused on." She said, forgetting last night's dinner was pretty much dedicated to her family being interested in Phillip. Nonetheless, a voice in the back of her mind was lecturing her saying that she'd also do well to be more focused on Phillip than Jack at a time like this.

"I don't know." Josh thought. "Guess we've heard so much about Jack for so many years, there's more to expect from him. We don't know nearly as much about Phillip, aside from what he told us at dinner."

Janet didn't say anything because hearing it like that actually made some sense.

"Don't tell Mom I told you this," He looked around the living room as though their mother was about to appear out of thin air. "but she's been worried that you and Jack were… you know."

"That we what?"

"Come on, don't play dumb." Josh raised his eyebrows. "Single woman living with a single man… she's been so stressed that something's been going on between you two all these years, especially when she first visited and you two pretended to be married. That's part of why she's so over the moon about Phillip.

"Oh." Was Janet's reply. Her eyes turned to look at the TV screen but she didn't focus on what was happening with Scooby and the gang.

"There isn't anything going on between you guys, is there?" Josh chuckled after a moment of awkward silence.

Janet whipped her head to look back at him. "What? No!" Her voice was squeaky. "I'm engaged to Phillip!" Katie stirred in her lap and she lowered her voice to a whisper. "What do you think I am?"

"Sorry." It was Josh's turn to look back at the TV. He thought it was obvious that he was joking and that he didn't believe his sister to be the type to wrangle two guys at once. He was not expecting her to get so defensive.

"Jan'?"

"Yes?" Her eyes were fixed more pointedly at the TV this time.

"Did you two, I don't know, used to date or something?" He somehow made his whisper hushed. "Is that why things are weird between you?"

Janet blinked hard and sputtered.

"You can tell me. You know I wouldn't tell the parents or Jen." He added.

And Janet knew this was true because this was where Josh was different from the rest of her family. He was the steadfast, non-judgemental one. He was who everyone confided in. And while he may occasionally let Janet and Jenny know things their parents had said about them, Josh was never one to reveal either of his sisters' secrets to their parents out of a sibling solidarity.

Her eyes flickered to the door, where the bustling noises in the kitchen just behind it continued. "We did _not _used to date. And things aren't weird between me and Jack. Why is that so hard for everyone to believe?"

Josh paused pretending he had to think of a reason. "Maybe because you barely said a word to him at dinner yesterday, and he was sitting right next to you."

"That's-"

"Or because you get all weird and stiff whenever he comes near you."

Janet glared at him.

"Sorry." And to his credit, he did look apologetic. "Did you forget we grew up together? I know what you act like when you're trying to avoid things."

She couldn't think of a thing to say to negate his observations because, well, he was right.

"So what happened? Did you two have some sort of falling out or something?"

Janet's eyes turned down to the sleeping child. "Sort of." She admitted. "But we made up. It's fine now. It's just… still a little fresh. And now you can butt out."

Being a Wood, Josh ignored the suggestion to not dig further. "So what happened?"

"It's complicated." Janet answered truthfully.

What _was _it about? On the surface it was some stupid argument about what? Phillip not being right for her? Was that it? But underneath it was about way more.

There was another long pause before Josh ventured his next question.

"Look, sorry if this is overstepping or something, but were there some kind of feelings going on before Phillip came into the picture? Is Jack adjusting to this new situation or something?"

Janet had never been more glad to see Jack walk through that kitchen door than when he did at that moment. "Soup's on!" He announced to the household.


	10. Chapter 10: A Rushed Wedding is No Fun

**Chapter 10: A Rushed Wedding is Not a Fun Wedding**

Note: The god awful dress Terri wore at Janet's wedding in the finale of the show? You know the one? Good, great. Just picture that when Jenny and Terri are complaining about the dresses Janet chose. This chapter was getting really long so I decided to split it in two, which means the next part should be out in a few days! Hope you enjoy!

**Monday**

Jenny stepped out of her dressing room with a look of disgust. Ruth gasped and tried to hide her horror. "Oh my."

"I am _not_ wearing this to your wedding, Janet."

Janet was seated in a comfortable chair in the waiting area with a notebook in hand, glasses on face. She was offended. "Why not?"

Her sister bulged her eyes. "Are you not seeing what I'm seeing?"

"I thought it looked nice!"

"You think this looks nice?"

"You said you didn't want poofy dresses!" Janet exclaimed. "It's not poofy!"

"If this was the superior choice, I'd hate to see what the poofy options were."

The item in question was a pale pink dress that was certainly not poofy, but cut off at the knees with T-shirt styled sleeves and another sheet of fabric draped over the shoulders covering the front and back of the dress, complete with a giant bow.

"It's what's in style!"

"That doesn't make it any better! I mean what's with all this extra material? And why is there a bow on the ass?"

"Jenny." Ruth murmured.

"Sorry, the butt."

Terri stepped out of her dressing room wearing an identical monstrosity. Her face confirmed that she agreed wholeheartedly with Jenny's critiques.

Janet's face fell. "You don't like it either?"

"No, that's not it…" Terri said, taking a look at herself in the mirror. "I hate it."

"What?" Janet's voice squeaked.

Ruth stood up to get a better look at the dresses. "Now, Janet. I know you're the one who gets to decide on the dresses, but…"

"It feels like I'm wearing one of those smocks Katie wears to her art class back home, except with lace." Jenny commented. "Whoever made these must've just slapped together the left over material they had and put it on the rack."

Terri was pulling at the waist of hers. "How is it loose but also tight?"

Janet frowned. "I spent hours visiting dress shops yesterday, trying to find three identical dresses that were in your sizes and this is the thanks I get?"

Terri looked back in the mirror, trying to find something redeemable about what she was wearing. "The color's kinda nice."

She could see Janet sitting behind her in the reflection of the mirror and she could tell the brunette was fuming. Her fuse had been very short the last couple of days, and she couldn't blame her. Jack, on the other hand, had been decidedly more like himself since the Friday night dinner.

"You know what?" Janet shot out at Jenny's gagging at her own reflection in the mirror. "You don't like the dresses? Fine. You can go all over town and find three matching ones that stay on the theme. I don't care."

"Good God." Jenny mumbled to Terri before saying aloud, "Sorry. We'll wear the wood chipper dresses. Won't we Terri?"

"Definitely." Terri nodded her head vigorously. "Whatever you decide is fine by me. It's your wedding. Do what you want."

Janet smacked her little notebook down on her knees. "No. You two obviously hate the dresses. You probably think you'd be better off walking down the aisle in trash bags."

"Well-" Jenny started but Terri elbowed her in the side. "We can suck it up."

"Oh, great. You'll suck it up. That makes me feel so much better about my choice."

Ruth took a seat next to Janet. "Janet, dear. Now we all know you're under a lot of stress and really don't have the time to go back on things you've already finished."

Janet pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. Everyone was getting on her nerves lately. Suddenly everyone had to put in their two cents.

"And I know the girls aren't too fond of these dresses, and I can't say I blame them."

"This isn't helping anything, Mom."

"But, what if we still bought the dresses and I rework them into something a bit more appealing?"

Jenny spun away from the mirror. "Mom, you're a visionary."

The frown on Janet's face was unchanged. "I don't know. It sounds like a lot of work. You'd have to fix three dresses."

"Aren't I in town to help out with the wedding?" Ruth's voice was soothing. "I'm more than happy to do it. And I'm sewing up Katie's flower girl dress anyways. This will give me more to do."

"Well, if you really want to…"

"I do!"

Janet sighed. "Okay. That's fine." Honestly, at this point it didn't matter to her what the dresses looked like.

Jenny was doing some sort of dance like she'd just scored a touchdown while Terri took a sudden interest in her fingernails. She was going to have to stress to Jack how much money and energy was getting wasted on this wedding the longer he put off speaking up.

Janet looked at her watch. "Right. Let's check these out at the register. I need to get back home and check my messages."

"You only let everyone know yesterday, Janet." Her mother reminded her as Terri and Jenny turned back into their changing rooms.

"And the wedding is only in 12 days. I need to know as soon as possible."

Mrs. Wood fixed a piece of Janet's hair tucked awkwardly into her glasses. "Alright then.

Maybe you can try on my wedding dress after you do that."

"Yeah, maybe."

**Tuesday**

Janet and Phillip entered, disturbing the peace and quiet of the apartment where Ruth and Jenny were standing by the couch. Jenny was wearing her bridesmaid's dress while Ruth was working on improving it. Both were watching Guiding Light with rapt attention.

Phillip made their presence known with a series of short sneezes. Janet's lips were thin, like she was physically holding herself back from going off on him.

"Bless you!" Ruth exclaimed. "Goodness. Allergy season must be starting up."

"We can't have the wedding at the garden." Janet said, closing the front door.

Ruth gasped. "What? Why not?"

Phillip sneezed.

"Did they not let you book it on such short notice?"

"No, it wasn't that."

Phillip sneezed again.

"Phillip has a very intense allergy to jasmine." Janet stated.

"The plant? Oh, no!"

"I feel terrible." Phillip sniffed. "The garden really is a beaut', but-" He sneezed. "Jasmine gives me awful allergies. I just get near a jasmine plant and my sinuses are done for the day." He blinked hard at his itchy eyes.

"So you were going to have a wedding at a botanical garden even though Phillip has terrible allergies?" Jenny asked, standing stiff as a board so as not to get stuck by the needles in her dress.

Janet glared at her sister before saying, "I didn't know."

Even in her awkward position, Jenny had a sisterly air of 'I told you so' about her.

"But then where will you have the wedding?" Ruth stressed.

"Ow!" Jenny squeaked. "Mom, you pricked my arm!"

Phillip blew his nose into a handkerchief. "You know we could always do everything at the country club I belong to. I can pull a few strings. And I can guarantee there is no jasmine there, that's for sure." He sneezed again.

"Well, I guess we'll have to at this point." Janet replied.

"Oh, how upscale!" Ruth exclaimed.

"You're not upset, are you?" Phillip asked, rubbing an eye.

"No." Janet said irritably.

"It sounds like you are."

"Well, that's because-" Phillip sneezed. "Maybe I'm mad because you didn't bother to tell me you had this allergy to jasmine!"

"I didn't know it would be there."

"It's a botanical garden, Phillip." Janet put her hands to her temples. "I could've saved so much time taking everyone over there to tour the place."

"I didn't know!"

"I think you could've told me about an intense allergy you have to a fairly common plant." She squinted over at Jenny who was watching them with more interest than the soap opera.

"I guess it just never came up."

"It just never came up." Janet repeated, throwing her hands in the air. "It probably should have crossed your mind when I showed you the pictures I took."

"Janet, dear." Ruth began. "Wasn't the country club your second pick anyways? That should be just as nice."

Janet played with the strap of her purse. "Yes."

"See?" Phillip blinked his itchy eyes. "And hey! No jasmine!"

"Yeah. just a bunch of grass." Janet replied. "And we're not gonna have any flowers either. Great."

"Janet."

"What, Mother?"

"We said we weren't going to get dramatic about things that don't go to plan, right?"

"...I'm not being dramatic." She restrained herself from yelling. "Just a little irked, that's all."

This didn't stop Ruth from reminding her. "Remember what the agreement was?"

"That things aren't going to be perfect, so don't expect them to be."

Ruth nodded her head towards Phillip.

Janet crossed her arms and looked at the ceiling. "The country club sounds very nice, Phillip. I'm sorry your allergy is acting up."

"That's okay." Phillip managed to say as he stopped himself from sneezing again. "Do you mind if I use your restroom?"

"Go ahead." Janet gestured in the direction of the bathroom and took a seat.

"What do you think so far?" Mrs. Wood asked before she stood back to admire her skill.

"Of what?" Janet asked dully.

"The dress!"

The front door swung open. "Hi, everyone!" Terri announced as she and Josh came in toting large paper bags.

"We come bearing light." Josh said before using his shoulder to shut the door.

"Oh! You got the lights?" Ruth gasped in delight.

"Enough to be a fire hazard, I'm sure." Josh answered. He walked over to set his bags safely on the couch next to Janet.

"Yeah. There are enough lights here to light up the aisle, the seats, the alter, everything." Terri rattled off. "Oh! The dress is coming along nicely!" She set her bags down next to Josh's and went to inspect Ruth's handiwork.

"Thank you, Terri." Ruth looked pleased with herself. "Of course, we're nowhere near finished, but progress is progress."

Mrs. Wood, Jenny, and Terri had agreed to do away with the unfortunately placed bow and the oversized bib over the chest of the dress and work from there. It was already doing wonders.

"I'm just working on the main offenders today, so you'll be up next soon, dear." She informed the blonde.

"Sounds good." Terri replied. She realized how breezy and carefree she sounded and was hit with a flood of guilt. She'd so enjoyed spending the morning with Josh that she'd almost forgotten Jack had other plans for the wedding, not that he was actually doing anyone any favors by waiting so long to finally say something to Janet.

"The lights are refundable though."

"I'm sure they're perfect." Ruth assured her, returning to work on the dress.

"Yeah." Jenny held her arms straight out while her mother measured something. "Even if it's at a country club and not that garden."

Terri frowned in confusion. "What-"

The bathroom door opened and Phillip sneezed very loudly.

"Phillip's got an allergy to jasmine." Janet filled the newcomers in. "So no wedding at the garden."

"Is that so?" Terri turned towards Janet, who was doing a bad job of keeping her cool composure. She wisely decided not to ask why this wasn't public knowledge much sooner. "That's too bad! It's so pretty there."

"Yeah. I thought so." Janet muttered.

Phillip cleared his throat and everyone turned their attention onto him.

"Sorry. My throat's starting to feel a little scratchy."

"Do you need some water?" Ruth asked.

"No, no. I should go home and take my medication. It'll help."

Janet uncrossed her arms and whipped around in her spot to look at her fiance. "But you were going to sample the cakes!"

Phillip's face was very red and his eyes were watery. If they'd known better they would've thought he had been crying his eyes out. "I'm sorry, Janet. I don't think I can taste anything very well at the moment. It'll have to wait." He sniffled awkwardly.

Janet glowered but Ruth's attitude was very different. "Oh, now don't you worry, dear. The cake will be here tomorrow. God knows there's too many sweets in this house as it is."

"_Mom_."

The front door opened for a third time. This time it was a chipper Roland, who was followed by Jack slightly dragging his feet.

"You look happy." Ruth noted. "I hope this means the flower hunt went better today?"

"Well, things really were looking down at first. We drove out an hour away but no one can do big orders this close to the day. But Jack here-" Roland pulled Jack over to put an arm around his shoulder and beamed. "Had the brilliant idea to do a bunch of smaller orders from multiple shops."

Jack tried to hide his face with his hand but it didn't block out everyone's voices. He'd made the suggestion as a joke to ease Mr. Wood's worry over striking out on the flowers again, but he ended up thinking the idea was the perfect solution.

"_Did_ he now?" Terri asked accusingly. She knew she was the one whose gaze he was avoiding.

"He sure did!"

"That's wonderful!" Ruth exclaimed.

"Now I know why Janet has kept you around for so long!" Roland chortled and gave Jack a jovial slap on the back.

Jack's bedroom door opened and a groggy Katie came out rubbing her eye. "I'm _trying _

to take a nap! Why is everyone so loud?"

"Sorry, darling." Roland lowered his voice to a whisper. "We're just excited, that's all."

"Use your inside voice!" The child commanded and turned back into the bedroom, snapping the door shut behind her.

There were a few giggles around the room accompanied by Phillip clearing his throat to speak.

"Now isn't this good, Janet?" He was cheerful even through the allergic reaction. "It won't be a grassy wedding after all!"

"Grassy?" Jack asked, clueless.

"They're doing the wedding at Phillip's country club instead." Josh said.

"What happened to the botanical garden?"

Phillip raised a hand to speak. "I'm afraid it's my fault. I can't be anywhere near jasmine."

"Who's Jasmine? An ex-girlfriend?" Jack guessed based on the state of Phillip's face.

"Apparently he's allergic to jasmine, the plant." Janet cut in before Phillip could answer. "So obviously we can't have the wedding in a garden. And before anyone says that I'm complaining, I'm _not_, so don't say it."

And even though Jack didn't want Janet marrying Phillip at all, he knew how disappointing this was for her. "Oh, Janet."

"It's fine." She said tersely, though clearly it wasn't. "Thank you for coming up with the idea for the flowers though." She added softly. "That does make things better."

She couldn't believe Jack was doing more to get the wedding up and running than Phillip was. The last few days had been so exhausting.

"Ah, well." He felt his face reddening a little, and then caught Terri's glare shooting daggers at him. "I mean- um, well. Don't thank me yet. Who knows if it'll work out."

"Well, _I _think you saved my tail." Phillip held out a hand to shake Jack's but his need to sneeze yet again stopped him.

"Phillip." Ruth started. "Before you go, I was wondering when your cousin would be able to come over to get her dress restyled?"

"That is a great question. I'll give her a call when I get home and have her get in touch with you."

"Perfect."

"Oh!" Phillip snapped. "That reminds me. Terri." He pointed at the nurse who was still standing with Ruth and Jenny. "Todd wants to meet up with you sometime this week to go over your speeches."

She raised her eyebrows. "Speeches?"

"Yes! You know those toasts the best man and maid of honor give at the dinner?"

"Oh, right. Those speeches." She said.

Phillip laughed. "He's really looking forward to it actually. He wants to meet up to make sure your toasts aren't too similar."

Terri ran a hand through her hair. "Makes sense." _Now_ she had to write up a speech for Janet and _Phillip_?

"Here, I'll give you his business card." He stuck a hand in his jacket and retrieved his wallet.

Terri took the card reluctantly and thanked him. She was gonna kill Jack.

**Wednesday**

"Now, I think you three should be getting out of their hair soon." Ruth was pulling a needle through Terri's dress. The three she was referring to were Josh, Jenny, and Katie.

"Oh, but we've enjoyed having them." Terri flashed a smile in Josh's direction. It quickly turned into a frown when she caught Jack's accusing stare next to Josh on the couch. "_But_ I'm sure you all would be much less crowded at a hotel."

"Yes, and I'm sure Janet and her friends would be glad to get back to their routines and sleeping in their own beds." Ruth added.

Without thinking, Jack nodded his head. While he liked Janet's family, having them around 24/7 was starting to get stressful, and he was already stressed out as it was. Plus, he was dying to sleep in his bed. The couch was killing his back.

Janet was sitting on Jack's other side. She didn't say anything either way, but was glad to be getting the rest of her family out of her apartment. Under any other circumstances, she would love to have her siblings stay for the duration of their visit.

But after her conversation with Josh on Saturday and what Jenny had said at the family dinner, she was paranoid that they knew what was going on with her. And while she was confident Josh wouldn't say a word to anyone else, it was only a matter of time before Jenny noticed something and went blabbing to Jack.

She just had to get through this next week and a half.

"Yeah, I mean we were planning on checking into a hotel soon anyways." Josh's voice brought Janet back to the present conversation. "I don't think anyone likes having to share a bathroom with five other people."

"Well, I'm sure Janet, Terri, and Jack have been accommodating hosts either way."

"It's been a good time." Josh said agreeably. "The home-cooked meals have been a nice change."

"I have to say, Jack's cooking is quite excellent." Mrs. Wood admitted. "Please don't slouch, Terri." She directed for the third time in the last 20 minutes.

"Sorry!"

"Well, he is a professional, Mom." Janet reminded her.

"I know that. But seeing him in action and working with him the other day gave me a new appreciation for the craft."

What was that? Her mother actually saying something nice about Jack without turning it into a backhanded compliment?

Terri noticed it too. "Sounds like you two had a good time together?"

Janet glanced over at Jack, who looked back at her ruefully.

"Of course."

That was weird.

"So you two just talked about cooking?"

"Yes, cooking. We exchanged recipes and tips." Ruth answered her daughter while she stood back to look at her work done on Terri's dress so far. "We also talked about you of course."

"Me?"

"Yes, _you_. Dear, would you run and put Jenny's dress on? I need to see something."

Jenny and Roland had taken Katie to a nearby park for the afternoon, therefore Jenny wasn't there to model her dress.

"Okay, but Jenny's taller than me." Janet stood up to retreive Jenny's dress.

"Oh, only by a couple of inches."

Janet disappeared to change.

"So, boys. When are you scheduled to do fittings?"

"Saturday, before the party." Josh answered.

"Ah. And is everyone looking forward to their little celebrations?"

Jack and Terri were quiet. "Guess so." Josh said easily. "Never been on a yacht before."

"Well, I think it should be quite the classy event."

Jack smiled. It didn't matter how upscale and wonderful the yacht party was. He did not want to go.

"And Terri, what are you girls planning for Janet? Not something as extravagant as a party on a yacht?"

"Uh, no." Terri laughed weakly. "Just some dancing. A fun night out on the town. That's all."

Janet reentered the living room wearing Jenny's now slightly less hideous dress.

"Oh, thank you, dear. Now come stand next to Terri here so I can get a good look at them side by side."

Janet followed her mother's instruction. There was a lull in the conversation as Mrs. Wood concentrated on making sure the dresses were getting the same treatment.

Janet's eyes drifted in Jack's direction and he caught her gaze and they held it for longer than two people who were just friends would.

It was fleeting moments like this when Janet thought _maybe_... Maybe they were on the same wavelength and that they didn't have wildly different desires.

Jack's face broke into a small smile when he met Janet's eyes. God, he adored her. He couldn't let her go away without telling her that. He just couldn't.

Like so many times before, Terri looked on as her roommates looked at each other with those googly hopelessly in love eyes. And like all the other times, they had no idea how it looked to outsiders when they did that.

It really was sweet in a stupid sort of way. They were putting themselves through hell for fear the other only thought of them as a friend. But what was the point of saying nothing to preserve what they had if it was changing anyways?


	11. Chapter 11: In Limbo with Larry & Stevie

**Chapter 11: In Limbo, with Words of Wisdom from Larry Dallas and Stevie Wonder**

Note: Okay, here's the second part of the chapter! Hope these two can get it together soon. Also hope no one minds the Terri and Larry scene, it's a little random but prepares us for what happens in the next chapter lol. Fingers crossed everyone likes Stevie Wonder as much as Janet (stream Hotter Than July (1980))!

**Thursday**

Jack got home from a short day at work and sat down on the couch, and for the first time in a week, it wasn't going to be his bed for the night. And though he was glad to finally have the apartment free of guests, he now found it eerily quiet. Now there were no distractions with the rest of Janet's family checked into a hotel. It was like he was in limbo. Things weren't like they were before this whole ordeal, but he still hadn't done what he intended.

He leaned back and rested his eyes for a few minutes before the incessant rummaging in the girls' room got the best of his curiosity. He stood back up and wandered over to their door, which stood ajar, and knocked lightly on the door frame.

"Come in." Sounded Janet's voice.

Jack pushed the door open to see the girls' bedroom completely turned over. It was a disaster.

"Did you lose something?"

Janet's head popped up from the side of her bed closest to the window in the room. "Oh, hey, Jack! I didn't know you'd be home this early." She tossed a pile of books onto her bed.

"Yeah. Felipe's got the evening shift covered for me." He watched Janet dive under her bed again for god knows what. "So what are you doing?"

"I'm-" She sounded like she was struggling to reach something. "Packing." Her small hand came up over the side of the bed holding a pair of shoes, which she also threw on top of her bed. The rest of her appeared shortly after. "I thought I lost these!"

"You're packing for Greece already?"

Janet looked up at his face from across the room and then looked back at the old shoes. "Oh. Yes and no."

"Help me out here, Janet."

Now she was playing with the strap on one of the shoes. "Well… I had some downtime today, so I figured I would get most of my packing done sooner rather than later. You know, so you and Terri can get another roommate moved in here while I'm in Greece."

The wind was knocked out of him in an instant. Janet moving out was somehow scarier to him than Janet getting married to someone else, and he desperately didn't want Janet to get married. There was too much to lose if Janet left.

"Gee, another roommate."

"Yeah." Janet affirmed.

They stared at each other from opposite sides of the bedroom. The sadness of their

changing situation seemed to hit both of them like a ton of bricks.

Janet straightened the pile of books on her bed, blinking hard. "It's gonna be so weird not living here anymore." She tried to laugh.

"You're telling me."

Jack leaned against the door frame, afraid to move closer and mess up like he did the last time he let his emotions get the best of him.

"What am I gonna do without you around here?" He did his best to match the lighthearted tone Janet was trying to go for.

She tilted her head but still kept her gaze down. "Oh, you'll manage."

"Without my favorite roommate I've ever lived with?" He was so earnest it was killing her.

"Oh, Jack…" Her voice was so quiet, he could barely hear it.

He rubbed his hand on the back of his neck. "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For being so selfish." He said honestly. "I keep making everything about myself. This is a really exciting time in a person's life." And he was right. His moody behavior had been affecting Janet and putting a damper on her celebrations.

"Not necessarily." Janet said. "It's not all exciting. It's- it's sad too. Like something really good is ending."

Jack nodded, but she was still looking down and didn't see him. He agreed wholeheartedly. It was too bad he couldn't tell if they had the same reasons for believing that.

He watched her turn to open her dresser drawers and rummage for something. He didn't know she was just pretending to look for something as an excuse to not look him in the face.

Sensing that she wanted to be alone, he slinked out of the room.

In the living room once again, he sat back down on the couch.

It was so _quiet_.

He noticed that their record collection by the TV looked more sparse than usual. He hoisted himself from his seat to inspect what was missing from the storage crate. Flicking through the records confirmed his suspicion. Most of the albums that remained belonged to him and Terri.

"Janet?" He called out. "You packed up your albums?"

"Yeah." Her voice called back out to him. "Why? Did you want to listen to something? I have them in a box in here."

"It looks like you forgot a few here." Jack didn't answer her question as he pulled out one of Janet's albums stuck between two of Terri's and kept thumbing through the collection. "Do you want me to grab them for you?"

"Oh, sure. Thanks!"

He raked through the records carefully and found two more that belonged to Janet. He was smiling at an old Peter Frampton album that Chrissy had forgotten to take when she moved out near the end of the stack and almost skipped a Stevie Wonder. That one was definitely Janet's.

He pulled it out to add to the small pile on the coffee table, but paused to have a better look at it.

It took him back to what felt like a whole lifetime ago when Janet first got this record, even though it hadn't even been four years. But it brought him back to a time when there was no Phillip and no Greece waiting in the wings to whisk Janet away.

He and Janet spent many hours listening to Hotter Than July around the time Chrissy was leaving. Janet would laugh so hard at the most ridiculous dance moves Jack could think of- doing them simply because he loved making her laugh.

It was such a strange point of time in their lives, not because it was awkward without Chrissy there, but because it ended up not being weird at all. He realized more clearly what an absolute delight Janet was without Chrissy's ever constant presence. In fact, him and her, Jack and Janet, just the two of them, it felt so natural. Maybe that's when he started really falling for her. Those nights when they'd dance to that album in their pajamas and Mr. Furley would come banging on their door asking what exactly they could possibly be doing that would cause that much noise on a Tuesday night and could they please keep it down?

The silence in the apartment was deafening now and he had the sudden urge to play that Stevie Wonder album right then and there. Despite the excitement of scrambling around to put the wedding together, there was still a somber feeling between him and Janet. He couldn't stand it.

Jack pulled out the record player and plugged it into the nearby outlet. He carefully slipped the record from its casing, knowing he'd never hear the end of it if he scratched one of Janet's Stevie Wonder records.

Once he set everything up, the record began and that familiar yowl that opened the album with "Did I Hear You Say You Love Me" sounded out in the dead silent apartment and the uncomplicated joy of years past came flooding back.

It took a total of 20 seconds for Janet's head to pop out of her room. "What are you doing?"

He didn't know how to tell her that he wanted to recreate the spirit of a simpler time. So when he turned around to look at the quizzical face he replied, "I'm dancing." He started moving around.

Janet's mouth fell open. "You're dancing?" One minute he was making both of them feel bad about her moving away and the next he was playing _her_ Stevie Wonder record. He was all over the place.

"Don't give me the wrong impression by giving me warm expressions." Jack sang loudly and offkey. "Come on, Janet." He called.

She made no move further than just outside her bedroom door. "What's going on?"

"What do you mean what's going on? I'm gettin' _down_!" He shimmied his shoulders off beat.

"_I've been standing on the outside trying to get on the inside."_

"We used to listen to this all the time! Remember?"

If he was trying to cheer her up or even cheer himself up it was working. She did her best at looking like she was above this silly behavior, but a smile crept up on her lips like it always did.

"Yes, I remember." Jack was now dancing himself in her direction and she had to shout over his scream singing. "I also remember how crazy Cindy thought we were when we'd dance to this."

"Get serious, Janet. Cindy always thought we were crazy, it wasn't just when we were dancing." Jack proclaimed.

"_Did I hear you say you need me? Well, baby tell me the truth."_

Jack stopped short when he came face to face with Janet. "Dance with me." He requested.

"I have to pack." She said half-heartedly.

"You can pack after." His voice had gone soft and was barely audible over the music. He put a hand out. "Please?"

She was struck by the pleading in his eyes when she looked into them.

"_Well if you love me honey let me hear you say, I love you."_

She put her hand in his and her heart started racing.

Despite the music being so upbeat, they stood still, hand in hand before Jack remembered they were supposed to be dancing.

He grabbed for her other hand and Janet let him lead them in a slow awkward back and forth swaying.

Anxious for things to be normal, Jack impulsively started wiggling his body to the beat of the song. His dancing became more aggressively bad and so he got that laugh out of Janet he wanted, breaking the ice for them to just have fun.

Once they got over the tension between them the song came to an end and jumped right into "All I Do". And before Janet could even think of sneaking away, Jack said, "You're not gonna walk out before the best song plays are you?"

"And what song is that?" Janet asked, a playful glint in her eye. They'd had this debate more times than she could count. It was such a well-rehearsed back and forth that it had lost any actual seriousness it may have had years ago.

"Uh, Master Blaster, duh." He kept moving along to the music.

"_This_ is the best song." Janet said with mock superiority.

"Well then?" Jack asked. "You're going to leave during your favorite song? Must not be your favorite then."

Janet rolled her eyes at him but she laughed as she kept dancing with him anyways.

"_Think of how exciting it would be if you should discover you feel like me, if you should discover this dream is for two."_

...

The two were twirling each other around, laughing and nearly falling over every time Janet tried twirling the much taller Jack when the doorbell rang out over the music.

"All I do is think about _you_." Jack continued shaking his shoulders about as Janet withdrew herself from her dancing partner to answer the door.

"Phillip!" Jack heard her breathless voice through the music.

He turned around. "Hey, Phil! Join us and get down!" High on having genuine fun with Janet for the first time in forever, for a moment he didn't care that Phillip was there. He began another over the top boogie and much to his delight, Janet was giggling as she watched him from the front door.

Phillip smiled and stood there awkwardly, not knowing whether Jack was being serious about asking him to dance.

Ultimately, he decided to let Jack do whatever he was doing by himself and turned to Janet. "I just swung by to ask if you wanted to come get a late lunch? You know, take a little break from all of this prepping?"

"Oh…" The question spiraled Janet back to reality. She glanced over at Jack, who was still dancing and then back to Phillip's mild expression.

"Unless you're busy?" Phillip noticed her hesitancy.

"Oh, no. I- I'm not busy." She lied.

"Perfect!"

"What?"

"So you can come to lunch then?"

Janet looked up at Phillip with an odd expression. "Lunch?"

"Yes, lunch." Phillip chuckled.

"Um, okay. Yeah." Though she sounded very unsure of her answer. "Let me just freshen up a bit." She smiled awkwardly before heading back to her room.

"So what brings you here?" Jack asked from across the room.

"I'm taking Janet out to lunch." Phillip answered. He put his hands in his pockets, looking very stuffy and out of place.

Jack's goofy dancing slowly turned into him just bobbing his head as he realized Janet was leaving in the middle of their dance party. "Oh, I didn't know you two were going out to lunch today."

"It was just a spur of the moment idea." Phillip nodded. "There hasn't been much time to just sit and chat with everything that's been going on. Thought I would take advantage of this opportunity."

"Ah."

The sweet "All I Do" came to an end and the melancholic "Rocket Love" started up as the present came crashing back down on Jack. It wasn't 1980. He didn't have infinite time with Janet like he had fooled himself into believing so long ago. Phillip sweeping her away for lunch today and then forever in a week and a half was there to prove that.

Janet returned to the living room with her purse.

"You ready?" Phillip asked.

"Guess so." Janet said.

Phillip started to leave. Janet hesitated before following him out.

"Bye, Jack." She tried to convey how sorry she was that their fun had been cut short. "See you later."

"Bye, Janet." He returned her sad smile.

"_You took me riding in your rocket, gave me a star. But at half a mile from heaven you dropped me back down to this cold, cold world."_

...

Phillip chuckled as he and Janet walked down the stairs of the apartment complex. "Jack sure loves Stevie Wonder, huh?"

"Hmm?" Janet was trailing a step behind him. "Oh. That's my album, actually."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Stevie Wonder is one of my favorites."

"Huh."

They each opened the doors to Phillip's car parked out front.

"What does that mean?" Janet asked. That reaction was enough to focus on him instead of how much she'd rather spend the afternoon at home.

"Nothing. I guess I just never pictured you being into that kind of music."

"Oh." She frowned. "What kind of music did you think I was into then?"

Phillip started the car. "You know, I have no idea actually. I never thought about it. Isn't that funny?"

"Yeah. Funny." She realized she never stopped to consider what kind of music Phillip liked either. "What sort of music do you listen to?"

"Oh, I've always been into swing music, jazz, but you know, the oldies. The classics."

"Oh?"

"Yeah! You can never go wrong with Frank Sinatra."

Janet didn't reply.

"You know, that reminds me. We should probably pick out the music we want for the reception."

"Right." Janet said. She didn't mention that she'd already thought of that and music was on her to-do list.

"We could probably still get a live band. Then we wouldn't have to go through the trouble of gathering music." He offered a quick plan.

"Let's not set our hearts on a live band. The wedding is in nine days and it's on a Saturday. There's no way we'd be able to find a decent one this close to the event."

"Ah."

"But having our own music is so much more personal, don't you think?" Her eyes twinkled at the thought.

"That's true." Phillip agreed. "You know, I've always thought "The Way You Look Tonight" was a great first dance song."

Since his eyes were focused on the road, he didn't see Janet screw up her face at the suggestion.

"What do you think?"

"Mmm…" She honestly did try her best to sound noncommittal at worst.

"You don't like it?"

"_Well, _why don't we weigh our options before settling on that."

"Oh, who's settling? It's Sinatra! You can't beat that!" Phillip was enthusiastic.

"Well." Janet muttered.

Phillip suddenly looked very concerned. What is it? Are you not a Sinatra fan?"

"He's alright." Janet shrugged. "Just not my favorite."

"Just alright?" He was bewildered by this news.

"Why is that so surprising?"

"Because- you're Italian, right?"

"A quarter."

"So you should love Sinatra then."

She crossed her arms. "That's quite an assumption to make."

"Well-"

"Phillip, my dad is Italian and probably loves him more than you do. I heard his music constantly growing up." She explained. "He's just kind of overplayed for me."

Phillip pondered this for a moment. "What are we gonna play if Sinatra's off the table? Surely not Stevie Wonder." He chuckled.

"Why not?" Janet squeaked.

"Because- I don't know. He's quite modern."

"That doesn't make any sense. What's wrong with that?"

"I just don't think his type of music is wedding material. I mean, can you imagine someone's first dance to a Stevie Wonder song?"

"Uh, _yes_." Janet huffed. "He's a very versatile artist."

"I'm sure he is." He was annoyingly nonchalant. "And look, don't take this the wrong way, but I just thought that if we didn't have a live band, we'd still play the real classics."

She couldn't believe how pretentious he sounded. "What if I don't want the classics? What if I want Stevie Wonder?"

"Name one Stevie Wonder song that can be used for a first dance and then we can reconsider." He said with a sense of finality.

"Okay, Ribbon in the Sky, You Are the Sunshine of My Life, You & I." Janet easily rattled off the count on her fingers. "Just to name a few."

"Ah, see I haven't heard those songs, so how would I know if those are good wedding songs?"

Janet's eyes widened in a mixture of bewilderment and utter indignation. "You've never listened to any of those songs?"

Phillip shook his head.

"You've never heard You Are the Sunshine of My Life?"

"Not once have I heard that song."

This guy had to live under a rock. "Okay… What about For Once in My Life? It's a bit older but-"

"Oh!" Phillip exclaimed recognition. "Yes. Now we're talking!"

Janet perked up. "Yeah?"

"That's a wonderful first dance song."

Janet felt her body relax and she leaned back in her seat. "I'm not gonna lie, after hearing all those songs you don't know, I'm shocked to hear that." She laughed faintly.

"Are you kidding?" Phillip laughed along with her. "Tony Bennett is great as well!"

Her smile faltered. "Tony Bennett?"

"Yes! He's wonderful. Gee, what a relief this is, huh?"

"Phillip, I'm still talking about Stevie Wonder."

"What's that?"

"I'm talking about For Once in My Life by Stevie Wonder." She explained.

"He has a song called For Once in My Life?"

She closed her eyes in frustration. This was going to be such a long lunch. And she was having such a fun time with Jack back at the apartment. The most fun they'd had since she got engaged.

...

Terri returned to yet another piteous sight of Jack. This time he was hunched forward on the couch, staring at his half-assed attempt at a menu for the wedding. "Lately" was playing on the record player in the background.

"_This time could mean goodbye…" _Stevie wailed throughout the living room.

Terri made her presence known by making sure the front door snapped shut audibly enough over the music.

Jack turned around. "Hey, Ter'. How was work?" His voice was dejected.

She meandered over to take a peak in her bedroom. "It was fine." Her eyes bulged at the mess but she didn't comment on it. "Is Janet here?"

"No."

"Then why are you listening to her record? She'll kill you if it gets scratched." She now made her way to where Jack was sitting.

"She was here earlier. We were listening to it together. I'm just letting the rest of it play." He returned his stare to the scrap of paper in his hand.

"Oh?" She took a seat. "Where'd she go?"

"She went out to lunch with Phillip."

"Ah."

They sat there saying nothing for a long time while Stevie continued lamenting over his cheating lover.

For once, it was Terri who couldn't stand the stillness. "You okay?" With everything going on and with all the houseguests they had over the last week, they really hadn't had a chance to talk about the situation at hand.

Jack just shrugged.

"Have you thought about what you're going to tell Janet, when you get the chance?"

He shrugged again.

She had no idea what happened while she was at work, but when wasn't that the case? But for the time being, she wasn't going to push it.

The record changed one last time to the bouncy "Happy Birthday", and it couldn't have been more poorly matched to Jack's gloomy disposition. He sat there lost in thought and only vaguely registered Terri getting up and leaving the room.

When the album finally came to an end the silence was tenfold. It was overwhelming. This is what it was going to be like without Janet there. This was his future.

Terri eventually returned to the living room, now changed out of her work uniform. She was a little concerned that Jack still hadn't made a move, eyes a little glazed over. She took it upon herself to rescue Janet's record from spinning forever on the turntable.

"You know what I just remembered?" Terri asked as she carefully slid the vinyl back in its casing.

"Hmm."

"That whole thing where Janet said that confusing stuff about not looking in places where she didn't have a chance, and you thinking that was about you. I mean, what was that?"

It was an attempt to instill some hope back into him by putting that back on his mind.

A thought was just beginning to flicker in his brain in regards to Terri's comment when Larry's characteristic knock interrupted it.

"It's open, Larry." Terri called out, setting the Stevie Wonder record on top of the pile of the other albums on the coffee table.

Larry swung the door open and raced in, hands clasped, grin on his face. "Jack."

Jack sighed. "Hey, Larry."

"Have I got an offer you won't be able to refuse!"

Jack folded up his "menu" and looked up expectedly.

"I've got us a double date with the Matthews twins!"

Jack and Terri stared at him.

"A double date." He repeated. "With the Matthews twins. Tonight." He put emphasis on every sentence. "Are you hearing what I'm saying?"

"I'm gonna have to pass." Jack finally said.

"You're gonna have to pass? _Pass?_ Jack, you have no idea how hard I worked to get us this date!"

Terri rolled her eyes. "Larry, please learn how to read a room."

Larry looked around. "I'm not following."

"Of course you aren't." The blonde looked at her watch. "As much as I would love to stay here, I have to go and meet up with Todd now."

"Who's Todd?" Larry asked.

"Phillip's friend."

"Phillip?" He was still confused.

"Maybe you can fill Larry in on your little… situation, Jack." She looked at him pointedly.

Jack grimaced. "Have fun with Todd."

"Well, don't have too much fun with him." Larry chimed in, winking at the blonde.

Terri shook her head at his comment. "See you later, guys."

Once the door was shut, Jack shifted his body so he was laying down. He sighed for dramatic effect.

Larry sat down on the arm of the couch. "Jack, I can't help but think something's got you down."

Jack just groaned.

"Ah, well. It sounds like you don't need my help, pal." He playfully slapped one of Jack's legs as he stood up to leave.

"You don't want to know about my situation at all?" Jack called.

"Well, I _do_ have to find someone else to double date with since you're so out of sorts. And the date is in a few hours."

"Some friend you are."

"I resent that. You were the first person I thought of to join me and the twins and all you have to say is 'some friend'?"

"Sorry. I'm not up to going out with a floozy, Lar'. I've got someone else on my mind."

"Jacko, tell me you're not in love or something. That's the worst thing that can happen to a guy."

"You're telling me."

Larry, who had been hovering at the door waiting for the conversation to end so he could make an exit, let his curiosity get the best of him. He traced his steps back over to the couch. "So who's the girl?"

Jack heaved a sigh. "Well-"

"No, wait. Let me guess. That sex therapist, right? What was her name? Debra? Denise?"

Jack stared at him. He hadn't been out with Doreen in months and Larry was still hung up on her occupation.

"She taught you so much and now you can't let go? Is that it?" Larry laughed knowingly.

"Would you cut it out? It's not her. But I can give you her work number. She can probably squeeze in an appointment for you and really get to the root of your issues" Jack sniped a little harder than he intended.

Larry took a seat again. "Gee, buddy. This must be serious."

"Yeah, well…"

"Alright. Seriously, who's the girl that's got you so hung up like this?"

"It's- it's Janet." He was amazed at how quickly he admitted it this time.

Larry chuckled. "Okay, good one. Now tell me the truth."

Jack shot Larry an annoyed look. "I'm not joking around. It's Janet." Though if he had told himself a few weeks ago that he'd be openly talking about this with not one, but two of his friends, he would've laughed himself silly.

Larry started to laugh again but died down once he saw the grave expression on Jack's face. "Janet? Like Janet Wood, Janet? Your roommate? The little dark haired one?"

"You don't have to sound so shocked, Larry."

"Not shocked… Just… confirming." The neighbor said as he processed the information.

"Yeah, right. Terri's known since she moved in. You don't have to pretend for my sake."

"Who's pretending?" Larry shrugged. "Wait. Since Terri moved in?" He backtracked. "That's like-"

Jack helped him catch up. "She moved in three years ago." He held up three fingers as an aid.

Larry ignored the jibe. "You're telling me that you've been in _love _with _Janet_ for _years_?"

Jack nodded his head.

"How come I'm just finding out about this now?"

"Because, not all of us are like you. You declare your love for a different girl every other week."

"Yeah, and I tell you about it every single time, don't I?"

"Unfortunately."

Larry frowned. "So why are you so bummed out? Just tell her."

"I can't just _tell_ her." Jack scowled. "Not with her getting married. It's not that easy."

Larry blinked. "Hang, on. Janet's getting married?"

"Yeah."

Larry threw his hands in the air. "When was anyone gonna tell me about this?"

This was the least of Jack's problems. "I thought Terri told you when we borrowed your car the other day."

"No. She just told me you guys needed an extra car to go to dinner with Janet's family."

"Huh."

Larry shook his head. "No one tells me anything around here. So who's the guy?"

"You know that vase Janet inherited a few weeks ago?"

"The vase that was worth nothing? Sure, I remember. Waste of everyone's time."

"It's the dead guy's nephew." Jack explained. "Phillip."

"That guy who was hanging around here after she brought the vase home?"

Jack nodded.

"Huh." Larry considered this.

"What?"

"Is he rich too?"

"Guess so."

"Tough competition then."

Jack scowled. "Thanks a lot, Larry."

There was a pause as Larry took in the situation. "So what are you gonna do?" He asked.

"Other than try not to shrivel up and die?"

"Yeah."

"That's all I got."

Larry was still lost. "Does she know?"

"What?"

"Has she been dragging you along all these years or does she have no clue that you've got the hots for her?"

"The _hots?_"

"So to speak." Larry returned. "_Does _she know?"

"No. I haven't said anything."

"Well, pal. I've got a solution for you."

"What?" He was desperate for someone to tell him what to do, he'd even listen to Larry's advice.

"You tell her." He repeated.

"_Why_ does everyone keep saying that like it's so simple?"

"Who's everyone?"

"Terri. Stevie Wonder. Terri."

Luckily, Larry took in Stevie Wonder's name with a nod, like the singer himself swung by the apartment to give Jack the same advice he had. "Well, they're right. Just tell her."

"I can't just tell her." Jack pressed. "This is a delicate situation." It was like talking to a wall every time someone urged him to just tell Janet.

"It's not that hard, Jacko. I do it all the time! Hell, I was in love with Janet once." Larry offered.

"Once again, I need to remind you that you falling in "love" is not the same as how I feel about Janet. And as for that disaster, where you thought you were in love with her? She just felt sorry for you."

"Sure, take it out on me because you have a problem saying 'I love you' and I don't. That's not gonna solve anything now, is it?"

"_None_ of what you're saying is gonna help solve anything, Larry."

Larry sucked his teeth. "Geez… I'll just see myself out then." Clearly, Jack was more in

the mood to feel sorry for himself than to hear anyone out.

Jack stretched his legs back out on the couch and covered his face with a hand in anguish.

Larry casually strolled over to the door when a thought popped into his head. "Actually, you know that stuff you said at Big Bear wasn't all that bad."

"What?"

"At the cabin a few months ago. That speech you gave to me when you thought I was Janet. It was good stuff. Sounded kinda heartfelt and stuff."

"Oh. Well, I guess it _was._" He'd honestly tried keeping that failure locked away in the back of his mind. "You're still not forgiven for that by the way."

"I don't blame you. Now that I know you've been a big old softie for Janet all along, I can admit that was kind of a jerk move on my part." Larry confessed.

"You said it."

"I'm nothing if not open and honest." He waxed.

"You're pushing it."

"Okay, okay. But seriously, that was good stuff back there. Why don't you work from that or something?"

"You think so?"

"Sure, pal. If Janet was there instead of me, there probably wouldn't even be a Phillip here now. Just saying."

"Huh." Jack was stunned. "Thanks, Lar'. I'll think about that."

"No problem. I don't think anyone has deserved to hop in bed with someone more than you do with Janet. _Years?_ I'd have moved on." Larry shook his head.

Jack was offended by the frank comment and called to Larry's back as he was exiting. "Then how come you've kept asking Terri out since she moved in here?"

"Hey, at least I can say I shoot my shots. What can you say?" And just like that he was out the door, leaving Jack to sit with that last thought.

**Friday**

"Larry, I have a big favor to ask of you." Terri announced the instant he opened his front door.

Larry moved aside as she pushed her way into his apartment. "Yes, come on in, why don't you."

"Now, I hate to ask you this. I really do. _But_, you know how Janet's getting married, right?"

"Yeah. Is Jack really gonna stop it?"

"We can only hope."

"What do you need from me then?" He smiled suggestively. Terri didn't react.

"Can you drive us to and from the night club we're going to for Janet's bachelorette party?"

"Bachelorette party?" Larry's face was mischievous. "What are you girls gonna do?"

"We're just going out for a few drinks and some dancing." Terri explained. "It's just a little night out on the town for some fun. Janet didn't want anything extravagant."

"Dancing? Sounds like a good time."

"You're not invited." Terri stated blandly. "We just need someone to drive us there and back."

"I see. So what's in it for me?"

"Larry!"

"What?" He looked just as affronted as Terri. "I'm supposed to take time out of my day to just drive Janet and her bachelorette party around town for nothing?"

Terri crossed her arms. "How about just doing it out of the goodness of your heart."

"Nah."

She glared. "You are the worst excuse for a human being I've ever had to come into contact with." She made to leave. "We'll just have to ask Janet's parents to stay up late in the night to come pick up their daughters from a night club where they'll be plastered."

"Hey, now-"

She ignored his attempt to explain himself. "Oh, and I guess Jenny's daughter will have to come along since they'll be babysitting her that night."

"Sure, sure. Make me out to be the bad guy just because I want something in return for using up all my gas money driving around L.A. for you."

"You're ridiculous."

"What's wrong with me getting something in exchange for my services?"

"What do you want then?" She was fully prepared to shoot down any lewd requests.

He thought for a moment. "Wanna go to Vegas with me next weekend?"

"No." She smirked.

"Why not?"

"Think of something else."

Larry put a hand to his chest. "You asked what I wanted!"

"And then I said think of something else. I'm not going to Vegas with you." She stifled a laugh.

"Why not?"

"Because of the way you are as a person."

"Ouch."

"_And_ because Janet's wedding is next weekend."

"Damn." He muttered.

She shrugged. "What can ya do?"

Larry snapped his fingers suddenly. "Hey, how about we go to the wedding together."

"Excuse me?"

"We can be each other's dates."

"No, we can't." Terri said firmly.

"Why? You scared you'll have a good time?"

"_No_. We can't because there isn't going to be a wedding to go to if Jack speaks up in time. Remember?"

Larry put a hand up. "Wait. So you can't go to Vegas next weekend because of Janet's wedding but we can't go to the wedding together because there isn't going to be a wedding?"

Terri smiled. "Yes, that's right."

He was about to complain about how unfair she was being when he realized something else. "When was Janet going to tell me about the wedding?"

"I don't know, Larry. It's her wedding, not mine."

"I _am_ invited, aren't I?"

Terri pursed her lips and thought. "Actually, I don't know if I saw your name on the list now that you mention it."

Larry was hurt, shocked, offended. "There's a _list?_ And _I'm_ not on it?"

"You're gonna have to take that up with Janet. I don't know why you weren't invited."

"Well, hold on a minute." He put his hands on his hips. "I don't know if I want to drive her around since she had the nerve to not invite me to the wedding."

"Oh my god, Larry. Would you please just do it?"

"No! I mean, you think you know a person! I thought we were friends!" He said rather dramatically.

Terri put her head in her hands in frustration. That was it. After this whole ordeal, she had to find new friends. "Why can't you just make this easy and just do us this favor? Do _me_ this favor? I'm not Janet. I didn't leave you off the invite list."

Larry walked away from the door to take a seat on his couch.

Terri dragged her feet to join him. She wasn't reporting back to Jenny without a driver. It was the bare minimum she could do considering she was the one who was supposed to have planned the party anyways. And Jenny's one request was that their parents not be their chauffeurs. Besides, who else would she be able to convince with such short notice?

"Oh, come on, Larry." She patted his shoulder. "You don't want to have to be there. It's going to be a disaster."

"Are you kidding? I was looking forward to it."

"Is that so?"

"Who wouldn't want to see all of that drama go down first hand? Now I'll just have to hear about it from other people."

Terri took her hand off of Larry's shoulder. "I'm so sorry Janet is depriving you of this experience."

"Thanks. You're a real friend."

"... a real friend who you'd do this favor for anyway?" Terri suggested.

Larry lifted up his head. "Nah."

She resisted the urge to smack him.

"Agh. Fine. Look, will you do it if I let you be my plus one?"

Larry perked up considerably. "Yeah?"

Terri sighed. "I mean, that is if I can pull some strings. The list is kind of already finalized. But I'll see what I can do."

"So we'll be each other's dates then?"

He tried to put an arm around her shoulder. She caught it before he could do so and held his wrist in a frighteningly tight grip.

"Mmm, you'd be my plus one."

"A technical term." Larry waved his trapped hand. "I wonder what I should wear."

"So you'll drive us then?"

"Of course. Now that we've got a reasonable bargain going here."

"Oh, thank god." Terri released his wrist and stood up. "You're a life-saver."

"So when's this little party anyways?"

Terri paused at the door. "Uh… tomorrow night. I'll let you know more details before then."

"_Tomorrow _night?" He gaped. The audacity.

"Yeah. Thanks again, Larry! I knew I could count on you."

…

"Dinner's ready!" Jack popped out of the kitchen to put the final plates on the table they had set up in the living room.

Janet emerged from her room looking pensive.

"Where'd Terri go?" Jack asked after a beat.

"Oh. She went to ask Larry something. She should be back soon."

"Ah."

They took their seats at the table in sync and began a quiet meal. Confused and intense emotions hiding just beneath the surfaces of their passive faces, neither knowing what to say, both believing the other couldn't possibly be feeling the way they felt.

After lunch with Phillip the previous day, Janet was summoned to the hotel where her family was staying to finally try on her mother's wedding dress (she still hadn't decided whether she was going to wear it or not). Then after that they all went out to dinner together. By the time she got back home, Jack was in bed, and her Stevie Wonder vinyl sitting at the top of a neat pile of her albums in the living room.

Silverware clattered gently as the two kept their gazes focused on their food.

All of this silence lately, it was driving him crazy. It was making him anxious. And maybe if he wasn't so focused on how _he_ couldn't think of anything to say, he would've realized how uncharacteristically quiet Janet was being as well.

"So…" He racked his brain for something to talk about. "How was lunch with Phillip yesterday?" He wanted to kick himself the second the question escaped his mouth. He didn't want to know about Phillip.

Janet tucked her hair behind her ears. "It was alright."

She had actually spent the date waiting for it to be over. She knew it was childish, but their disagreement over Frank Sinatra and Stevie Wonder had annoyed her to know end. The fact that Phillip never told her about his jasmine allergy also annoyed her. And you know what? She _was _still mad that he had vetoed having a church wedding.

"Ah, that's good." Jack spoke quietly. He was only thankful she didn't elaborate.

Jack pushes his food around his plate, nerves too strung to have an appetite. Janet ate voraciously, like she always did when she was stressed out.

"You looking forward to the party tomorrow" Jack asked a question so he could listen to her voice instead of the thoughts eating away at him.

'_No.'_ She thought to herself.

"Eh. I think Jenny's more excited than I am."

And they both chuckled quietly because they both knew it was true.

"What about you? You're going on a fancy yacht party."

Jack gave her a half-smile. "I'm gonna be so out of place. Will most definitely make a fool out of myself, one way or another."

"I'm almost sad I can't be there to see it. I hope someone takes pictures." She managed to lightly tease him.

Jack propped his elbow on the table and rested his head on his hand to look at her. '_Say it. Just say it!'_ One part of his brain was screaming at him.

"What?" Janet asked, self-conscious under Jack's lingering gaze.

But the other part of his brain was scared he'd say the wrong thing and mess this up.

"I'm just…" He took a deep breath. "I'm gonna miss this so much."

Janet's wide eyes softened. "Yeah, me too." She blinked and looked down at her plate again.

It was only part of what they wanted to say. Hopefully they'd get the courage to tell each other the rest eventually.


	12. Chapter 12: Girls Just Want To Have Fun

Note: Party time! Hope you enjoy this mess!

* * *

**Chapter 12: Girls Just Want To Have Fun & Also Wallow In Their Feelings**

"You can go and dance. You don't have to stay here."

"What? No! I'm perfectly fine sitting right here with you."

The bartender handed Terri a shot and she downed it immediately.

It was finally the day that only Jenny had been anticipating, Saturday night, Janet's bachelorette party.

They were having the "party" at a local nightclub. Air quotes on party because they had been there nearly an hour, and Janet and Terri had spent the entirety of that time sitting at the bar. Jenny was having the time of her life on the dance floor. They weren't sure if Phillip's cousin,Ginger was having fun, but Jenny had promised them to keep an eye on her.

While Janet appreciated that Terri sat loyally by her side, her foot tapping along to the music and the longing in her eyes to join the crowd of people having fun was not going unnoticed by her.

"Go on, Terri. It won't bother me."

"What? And leave you all by yourself at your own party?" Terri exclaimed. "No way."

Janet shrugged. "If you say so."

Terri looked sideways at Janet. She was sure her mind wasn't playing tricks on her. Janet's mood had been just as melancholy as Jack's had been since she got engaged. What went on between them the other day, she had no idea, but there seemed to be a switch that had gone off in Janet's head.

Things had been very still around the house over the last couple of days. Where Jack's spirit was put on a nervous pause- in a state of constant hesitation, Terri got the impression that Janet's quiet was more of an intense pensiveness. Could it be that she was slowly but surely coming to her senses?

Because of this, she wasn't certain Janet going out tonight was a great idea. She clearly wasn't up for a night of dancing. And it's not like she hadn't had plenty of chances to cancel the party. For whatever reason, she chose to tough it out. And so here they were.

"You know," The blonde began, raising her voice so she could be heard over the music. "I wasn't too excited about this party either if I'm being honest."

"Who said I wasn't wasn't excited about the party?" Janet tried sparing her roommate's feelings but was silenced by Terri's knowing smile. "Why didn't you want to go out then?"

"Well…" The crowd cheered as the opening sounds of Thriller came over the loudspeakers, and she was dying to join them. "I mean… because of all this I have to take _Larry_ to the wedding."

"You _what_?"

"Yeah, because _you_ didn't put him on the list!"

"Didn't I?" Janet asked vaguely.

"Nope. And he got all butthurt because you didn't even tell him about it." Terri explained. "He had to find out from Jack!"

Janet smirked. "Oh, poor poor Larry. Whatever will he do?"

"Yeah well, it's actually poor poor _Terri_." She pointed to herself. "The only way I could get him to drive us tonight was to let him be my plus one."

Janet shook her head. "I appreciate the sacrifice you're making."

Terri clinked her empty shot glass against Janet's full drink.

They watched everyone attempting to do the famous dance with varying degrees of success.

"Who would've thought that Larry would be my date to yours and Phillip's wedding." Hearing the sentence out loud sounded even more bizarre than it did in her head.

"Not me." Janet answered honestly.

"I can't believe one of us is actually getting married. That's so grown up." Janet opened her mouth to speak but Terri wasn't finished. "It's crazy!"

"It's not that crazy." Janet said as she threw a hostile glare towards a lewd looking man making his way towards them at the bar. "It was bound to happen to one of us eventually." She smiled with satisfaction when the man backtracked.

"But I mean… you're getting _married _married. Like, for real. You're gonna spend the rest of your life with one person." Terri looked like she was having a revelation. "You're gonna be with this person until one of you _dies_."

"Jesus, Terri. We're supposed to be having fun here." She was grateful Jenny wasn't there to add a snide comment about divorce always being an option.

"I'm having fun!" She insisted. "But wow. What a commitment."

"Yes, that's what marriage is." Janet nodded before taking a small sip from her drink.

The night was young, but Terri could feel the alcohol was starting to get to her. Normally, she wouldn't push Janet on something so serious but… why the hell not? Jack didn't seem to be getting anywhere with his one job he had, and the wedding was in a _week._

"So how did you _know_?" She questioned. "How did you know that you want to spend the rest of your life with… with… Phillip?" Sometimes playing dumb was the only route you could go if you wanted to get anything meaningful out of Janet or Jack.

Though she heard Terri's question loud and clear the first time around, Janet feigned deafness due to the music and Terri had to repeat herself a few times before she quit the act.

She needlessly wiped the counter in front of her with a napkin. "Um. I… I don't know. Sometimes you just know when you have to do something."

"When you _have_ to do something?" Terri said her words back to her. "So you _have_ to marry Phillip?"

"Well, when you say it like _that_ it sounds…"

"Like a chore?" Terri offered.

Janet sighed.

"It doesn't sound very romantic to me." Terri confessed. "No offense."

Janet took a large drink from her glass before saying, "Not everything needs to be romantic. Life isn't a fairytale."

"But you're getting _married_. That part of life is usually pretty romantic. At least it should be."

Luckily for Janet, Jenny's reappearance at the bar interrupted their conversation.

"Hey!" She shouted over the music.

"What's that?" Terri pointed at a stack of napkins in her hand.

"Numbers." Jenny smiled mischievously, fanning herself with them.

"Numbers?" Janet asked. "And what do you think you're going to do with them?"

"Guess we'll see how this next week goes."

"What?"

"I'm joking." Jenny rolled her eyes. "God, you need to relax. I might call one or two. Who knows."

"Jenny!"

Jenny shrugged. "Oh, and Ginger left by the way."

"What?" Janet and Terri exclaimed together.

She grabbed the drink the other two had been guarding for her. "Said this place was too trashy."

Terri's mouth dropped open. Her biggest contribution to planning this event was suggesting the club. "So she just _left_?"

"Don't worry. Her driver came and got her. I watched." She directed this at Janet before she could give her a lecture about safety in numbers.

In all honesty, Janet couldn't care less that Ginger had decided to leave. She invited her to the get-together to be courteous since Phillip had invited Jack and her brother to his party. She didn't know the woman. She was actually kind of jealous that she managed to ditch the place so early.

"Maybe she's got the right idea." She said. "We should just go home. This place is really dull." She lied as the crowd was cheering on some guy breakdancing in the middle of the dance floor.

"That's probably because you've been sitting at the bar and twiddling your thumbs for the last hour." Jenny noted. "_You're _the dull one."

"I am _not _dull!"

"Oh, is this supposed to be you having fun on a Saturday night?" Jenny put a hand to her chest. "I'm sorry. I couldn't tell."

"You are such a brat."

"And you're a bore."

Terri signaled to the bartender for another drink.

"I am _not_. These kinds of parties are just stupid."

"That's too bad because we're not leaving until that Larry guy comes to get us."

Janet looked to Terri for assistance but the blonde only answered with an apologetic half shrug.

"We don't want to bother Larry to come pick us up so early, do we?"

"Who cares about bothering Larry?"

"Okay, okay. We might as well have some fun since we're here. No need to waste the night."

…

Another hour went by and Janet and Terri were still sitting at the bar. Despite being stuck in her seat, Terri was having a much better time thanks to the entertainment of her beverages. The same couldn't be said for Janet.

"Janet." Terri began.

"Yeah?"

"You know what I think would be so funny?"

"What?" Janet humored her. Terri thought everything was funny when she was drinking.

"What if you just… didn't get married?"

She gave her roommate a strange look. "What makes you say that?"

Terri exhaled. She had intended to say something smarter but didn't mean for it to come out so blunt. She forgot where she was going with it and why she thought her suggestion was a funny one. "I don't know."

Terri sipped at her drink and watched Janet look out at the crowded dance floor with a sullen face.

"Are you sure you don't want to dance?"

"Maybe later." Janet replied. "I'm not really in the mood right now."

She may have been drunk but she could still detect that Janet was miserable. It was the same sense she got when Jack was feeling hopeless about Janet.

"What if you just didn't marry Phillip?" Her voice came out more bubbly than she intended it to.

Janet turned to face Terri again and decided not to remind her that she already made that suggestion. "Yeah, what if?" Her smile was sad and she handed Terri a napkin to wipe the drink she splashed onto her own hand.

"Yeah! And then, and then you could stay and live with me and with Jack. And nothing has to change. And everything can stay the same. Doesn't that sound nice?"

Janet certainly hadn't had enough to drink to be on Terri's level. "Aw, Terri."

The blonde nodded, feeding off of Janet's gloom. "Yeah! And then, and then I don't have to live with Jack _by myself!"_

To Janet's shock, Terri put her head down on the bar.

"Terri, are you okay?" She put an arm on her shoulder. "Are you _crying?"_

"Noooo." Came a muffled howl from under her arms.

Janet swallowed hard. She'd been feeling down the past few days and so anything was bound to send her over the edge into tears.

"Aw, I'm gonna miss living with you guys so much."

Terri picked her head up off the counter and swept wisps of hair out of her face. "I can't live with him by myself, Janet."

"Huh?"

"Jack! I can't do it_."_

Janet could only laugh at Terri's imminent suffering. "Jack's a great roommate, Terri."

Terri sighed.

"What? He cooks. That should be enough for you."

"Lots of people can cook."

"_We_ can't."

Terri leaned back with an air of nonchalance as if she hadn't just been distraught two seconds ago. "Okay. So he can cook. Big deal."

"I think that's a big deal. That's one of the reasons Chrissy and I asked him to move in with us in the first place." She couldn't fathom how Terri was so unimpressed. What she would give to be like her, not plagued with these feelings she was harboring for their other roommate. She would still get to see Jack every day!

"Terri, you don't know how lucky you are to have Jack as a roommate." Janet added, falling right into the obvious trap.

They'd both been drinking so we'll give them each a break, Terri for doing a terrible job of finding a discreet way to get Janet to talk about Jack, and Janet for not being able to see through this attempt.

Finding everything to be a tad more hilarious than usual, Terri gave a shout of laughter. "Lucky?"

"What's so funny?"

"I think I got lucky having _you _as a roommate. Jack was just part of the packaged deal."

Lips pursed, Janet considered this. She knew Terri and Jack had never clicked like she had with Jack, but they got along well enough.

Terri's smile was easygoing. "Janet, I gotta tell you. I would not have moved in with Jack Tripper if you weren't there too."

"Huh. Really?"

"Uh, yeah. He was a childish loudmouth when we first met." She recalled her early encounters with Jack. "And you know what? He still is one."

"Okay, yeah he is." Janet conceded to which Terri clinked her glass against her own. "But he's more than that. I've had a great time living with him."

A couple of guys interrupted them to ask them to dance. They declined and the men trudged away disappointed.

There was a lull of silence between the girls before Terri remembered their conversation.

"You know, I've always thought that you and Jack get along so well because you two just have this… this thing. You know?"

"A thing?"

"Yes." Terri affirmed with emphasis. "A thing. You just… you know! You _get_ each other."

"Oh." This wasn't news to Janet. "You and I get each other too." She added logically.

Terri patted her hand. "Sweetie, I think that's really nice of you to say, but it's not the same thing as what I'm talking about with you and Jack. I think you know that." Maybe she should've just taken Janet out for drinks to talk about this much sooner. This was so easy!

"Sure, it's not the same thing. Jack and I have been living together for a lot longer than you've been with us. That's just a fact."

"Oh, Janet. Janet, Janet, Janet." She shook her head knowingly. She went to take a sip from her drink but frowned at because she found it was empty.

"What?"

"Come on. _You know._" Terri gave her a significant look like staring her roommate down would clue her in to what she meant.

"No, I really don't know." Janet said, stubborn as ever. "I think you've had too much to drink."

"I have _not_." Terri poked Janet's shoulder. "You've just had barely anything to drink! We're not balanced." She smiled serenely.

"Sure."

They were momentarily distracted by a woman attempting to show everyone at the bar a magic trick that involved three shot glasses and a napkin. It resulted in three shattered shot glasses and a few spilled drinks.

While they helped the bartender tidy up the mess, Terri said, "So, back to you abandoning me to live with Jack by myself."

Janet reached over and wiped a shard of glass away from Terri's elbow. "What am I gonna do with the two of you?"

"Stay so we don't kill each other."

"You guys are gonna get a new roommate to take my place and you'll be just fine." Janet tried to console her as she inspected their section of the counter for any more glass.

"No we won't! You don't understand!"

"What is there to not understand, Terri?"

"It's not gonna be the same without _you_."

This made Janet pause her search.

"Oh, no. Did you cut yourself?" Terri asked, suddenly alert.

"No-"

"I have some bandaids in my purse here." She went to dive into her little bag.

"Don't worry about it."

"I also have some gauze." She even pulled it out to show Janet.

"I didn't hurt myself! You can put that away!" Janet put her hands out to show the nurse.

Terri frowned. "Oh. Then why'd you stop?"

Janet ran a hand through her hair. Tipsy Terri was exhausting. "I was just thinking about... how Jack said something like that the other day. That's all."

"He keeps gauze with him? Maybe he's learned something from me after all."

"No." Janet sighed. "About how it wasn't going to be the same with me not living with you guys."

Terri squinted at Janet as if that would help her digest the information better. "He said that? To your face?"

"Yes."

She beamed. "Good for him!"

"Good for him?"

"Yes! Good for him for saying that. Did he say anything else?"

Janet hesitated. "Well-"

Terri leaned forward. "Oh my god, did he say it?"

This time she really didn't know what Terri was talking about. "I uh… he said that I was his favorite roommate?"

She assumed this wasn't what Terri was expecting since you could practically see the excitement leave her body. "Oh."

"Sorry. You're my favorite if that helps." She lied.

Terri laughed. "No, I'm not. But thanks anyway."

Janet was about to go into how she could have more than one favorite but Terri looked to have already moved on from that.

"What did you think he would say?"

"Oh, that? I just thought he was finally gonna tell you that he-" She caught herself. "Oh no, I can't say."

"Say what?"

"I _can't_, Janet. It wouldn't be right."

If there was anything Janet hated more than her inability to go after what she wanted, it was being left out of a secret, especially one within her own household.

"Why wouldn't it be right? It's me! You can trust me!"

"It's not that, believe me." Terri's eyes were wide. "It's just… It would be best to hear it from Jack."

Janet's mind started racing and Terri kept right on blabing. "You know, I told myself I wasn't gonna get involved. This is _his_ job, you know. But let me tell you, these last couple of weeks have been so stressful, Janet. I can only imagine how stressed out Jack must be."

"Why? Because of all the planning?" That was the only thing she could think of because wedding planning had been dominating their lives recently, it's all any of them had been doing. What if he couldn't pull off catering the reception at such short notice?

"I mean, yeah. That's part of…" Terri trailed off. "But I can't tell you."

"You are such a big help."

"Sorry."

"God, Terri, now _I'm _ going to be stressing out wondering what it is!"

How else could Jack hound her thoughts? Hadn't he been taking up enough space in her brain lately. What could this possibly be about?

"Oh, I wouldn't stress if I were you." Her roommate confided. "Things would actually go a lot smoother for all of us if we just relaxed. Ya know? And besides." She put a hand on her shoulder. "I know you know." Janet's confusion only intensified on her face. "Well, I _think_ you know. You should know. No, you do. _You do_. You know but you don't realize that you already know. Do you wanna dance now?"

...

It turns out Janet did not want to dance.

After Terri refused to clue her in, Janet spent the following 20 minutes stressing out about what it was that Jack had to tell her. She was racking her brain for things that she already knew, like Terri had said, but nothing was coming to mind. It was too loud there. Too much was going on. She couldn't think straight.

She then agreed to do a shot with Jenny as a means to calm her nerves. It was sort of working. She wasn't really anxious about whatever Jack had to say, instead she was thinking about all those things she would never tell him.

She had announced to her sister and Terri that she was going to go and make a song request. Getting up and doing something would be a good distraction, even if it was just for a few minutes.

"Listen, lady. I can't play that song." The employee at the music booth was direct with her after he tried to turn her down nicely.

Janet's face fell. "You don't have it?"

"Oh, no. We _have _it. I should've said I'm not going to play it."

"Why not?"

The guy looked incredulous. "Read the room! People are here to have a good time."

"And what if that song is what I listen to when I'm having a good time?"

The DJ cocked his head. "Save it for when you're moping in the privacy of your own home. Don't ruin everyone else's night."

This was unbelievable. She couldn't have a good night even if she tried. "What's the point of requests if you're not going to play what the people want?"

"Next." The employee waved over the next person in line.

Janet stood off to the side and listened to a college-aged looking girl request "Footloose".

The exchange was over in a matter of seconds and the girl flashed a friendly smile at Janet to which she didn't return.

She cut back in front and addressed a couple that were next in line. "What song do _you_ want to hear?"

"Let's Stay Together." The guy said. "We love that one." The two exchanged a sloppy kiss and the woman put her head on his shoulder.

Janet spun around. "Oh, so you can play _that_ but you can't play _my_ song?"

The DJ looked over Janet's head. "Tina Turner cover?"

"Yeah."

"Then of course I can. I'll add it to the queue."

"Thanks, man."

"Have a good night. Take care."

Janet pushed her way back up to the counter. "Listen _you_." The DJ looked unperturbed. "I want to know why you can play "Footloose" 20 times an hour but when I make one simple request that happens to be a little different from what you guys play here, you won't even give it a chance!"

"Look, miss, this is a dance club. It's Saturday night. All the young people are here to have fun. It's my job to make sure I provide that experience by playing the right music."  
"That's bullshit!"

"Is it?"

"Yeah! Just play my song!"

"Ma'am if you don't get out of the line, I'm going to have to ask security to escort you out." Still he was unfazed, like he dealt with crabby drunks regularly.

Terri appeared by Janet's side just in time. "Is everything okay? You're taking a long time. I was getting worried."

"No. Everything's not okay. They won't play my request."

"Miss." The DJ now spoke to Terri. "You need to tell your friend to stop badgering the request booth and the other guests. We'll have to ask you to leave otherwise."

"Why can't you play her song?" Terri asked politely. Before he could go into his spiel, she leaned forward. "It's her bachelorette party. Have a heart."

The guy looked between the women. "You want me to play this song for your bachelorette party?"

"And what's wrong with that?" Terri protested even though she didn't know what song they were talking about.

"You can't dance to it."

"So?"

"I hate to break it to you, but people come here to dance."

"Aw, and they've been doing that all night." Terri stated. She had a hand on Janet's arm to keep her from stalking away. "Let them have a breather, would you?" She threw him a charismatic smile. "What's the big deal anyways? Play something from Footloose right after, they won't notice a thing."

The guy's frown loosened up the slightest bit. "I promise most people won't remember the music from tonight. I know I won't." She managed to get the people in line behind her to laugh along. "_But_, but what's your name?"

"Doug."

"Well, hi there, Doug. My name's Terri." She held out his hand to shake. "Now listen, Doug, I won't forget what a helpful and kind person you are if you play that one teeny tiny song for my friend here." She patted his hand. "But I mean, who could forget a face as adorable as yours, Doug?" She winked at him and his face went pink. "And you know what? I think that you should play something that you want to listen to after you play my friend's song."

"Why?"

"Because you deserve it." She declared. "You look like a hard working kinda guy. Treat yourself."

Even though Janet thought it wasn't Terri's best work and that she was laying it on thick, eventually Doug the DJ meekly agreed to play Janet's song.

"Gee, Terri. Thanks." Janet said as they finally departed the music booth.

"Anything for you, Janet. Just had to use the sweet voice and throwaway compliment. Works like a charm and works every time." She grinned and they both started laughing a little too hard.

"Why was that the most fun I've had this whole night?" Janet shouted over Footloose starting up once again.

"Probably because you have something else on your mind." Terri bobbed along to the song. "_I've_ been having a fantastic night!"

Janet looked down at the ground. It was so much harder to avoid that nagging feeling in a nightclub full of people she didn't know having as much fun as Terri and Jenny were with loud upbeat music blasting in their ears.

On top of Terri's secret she wouldn't let slip, the memory of her and Jack dancing to her album the other day was gnawing at her. _That_ was genuine, effortless fun. And this was her bachelorette party. In theory, she should be having the time of her life! Maybe it was what this whole thing was celebrating, her tying the knot… with Phillip.

Maybe she'd had too much to drink or maybe she hadn't had nearly enough.

She and Terri agreed to check on Jenny at the bar and maybe get more drinks before Janet's song finally played. And Jenny was having an animated conversation with the bartender, so she waved them off dismissively when they told her her plans to dance.

When they returned to the dance floor, it was mostly filled with couples dancing to "Let's Stay Together" while guys were striking out trying to dance with seemingly unattached women.

Terri shimmied about and Janet danced reluctantly. She had this sinking feeling that she could never picture her and Phillip dancing to a song like this and being as happy as a lot of the couples around her looked.

And she kept thinking about Jack! She couldn't stop thinking about him! And this song wasn't helping! She was starting to feel like she needed to have a good cry. All these stupid happy couples who weren't afraid to be together, weren't afraid to take a chance on what they really wanted. Stupid Jenny for getting all those guys' numbers. Stupid Terri for having more fun than her at her own party. Stupid Jack for asking her to dance with him. Stupid her for being such a stubborn coward.

It was all getting to be too much and her head felt all fuzzy. She started walking and Terri was on her heels like a puppy. A drunk puppy.

She didn't lead them anywhere crazy, just to a wall a few feet outside of the dance floor, one of the few places that wasn't crowded by people.

"What are we doin' over here?" Terri's voice was so loud. It was like all those people dancing. Not a care in the world.

"I just needed some air." She answered truthfully.

"Oh. Good idea."

Janet leaned back against the wall and Terri did the same right next to her. She got this overwhelming surge of appreciation for her blonde roommate even though minutes ago she had grouped her with everyone she called stupid in her head. Hadn't she stayed by her side the whole night despite her being a brooding bore? It would've been much more fun for Terri if she had just followed Jenny around instead of Janet. Tina Turner insisting that they stay together so loud she could barely hear herself think was only making Janet more miserable for everything she was about to leave behind.

The song was coming to a close and she shrugged off Terri's eagerness to urging return to the dance floor before Janet's song started.

Doug's voice sounded out over the speakers, interrupting the music. "Okay, everyone. I'm just giving you a heads up that the next song we're about to play is a request and it's not one you can dance to very well." Janet managed a small scowl. "So if you need to use the bathroom or want to grab another drink at the bar, now would be a good time."

Amazingly, people started clearing out from the dance floor before they could even hear what was about to play.

Terri nudged Janet's arm. "It's your song!"

Her giddiness turned into slight confusion as she recognized the opening piano notes but couldn't quite place it. "Do we have this at home?"

Janet nodded. "It's Wanderlust. Paul McCartney."

"Oh." Terri voiced. "So are ya gonna dance?"

She didn't answer her and made no move to dance.

Terri snapped her fingers. "This is from one of Jack's records, isn't it?"

Janet simply nodded again. Of course it was one of Jack's. He was the one obsessed with The Beatles as a group and as soloists. And like Jack knew all the words to her Stevie Wonder, she was just as familiar with his McCartney.

She didn't know why this was the song that popped in her head when she made her request. Doug was right, it wasn't fun dance music, but she'd always enjoyed this song and Jack had been on her mind so so much lately. Hearing this was almost like he was here with her. Almost.

The dance floor had emptied out considerably, save for a few couples swaying back and forth together. If Jack had been there she knew he would have insisted they go and slow dance together, rather than sitting it out like most of the people there were.

It made her heart ache so much. Everything was speeding out of her grasp faster than she wanted, and it was her own fault.

'_Light out wanderlust, head us out to sea. Captain says there'll be a bust, this one's not for me. Take us from the dark out where we can see. Captain's out to make his mark, this one's not to be.'_

She closed her eyes and found herself saying, "I wonder what Jack's doing."

Terri was swaying very gently back and forth. "Probably not having as much fun as we are." That wasn't saying much.

"I wish he was here."

"Me too." Terri agreed. "Well- actually I don't know if _I _want him here, but if he makes you happy, then me too."

"Why did he have to go to Phillip's party anyways? He's _my _best friend. Not Phillip. Jack should be at this party, Terri, not that one."

"Maybe you should've asked him." Terri said. "I think he would've said yes."

"I think so too."

Everything was getting swirly in Terri's vision. She tried keeping her gaze on some wall art to keep her focus in check.

"It's too scary." Janet revealed, taking Terri out of her stupor.

"Yeah. What is?"

"What if he said _no?_" Janet implored.

"Why would he say no? I don't get it."

"Because he's my best friend. Maybe he doesn't want to. If I asked him, it would ruin everything."

Terri raised her eyebrows. "It would?" She was too drunk for this.

Janet's nod was pitiful. "I think he would have more fun here, but what if I'm _wrong_?"

"I think he would have more fun here too." Was Terri's input. "Do you think _you_ would have fun at Phillip's party?"

Janet finally opened her eyes. She could just make out Jenny still talking to the bartender.

"I don't think so." She exhaled. "What do they do at yacht parties?"

Terri thought. "I don't know. I've never been to one."

"I bet it's really boring."

"I bet you're _right_." Terri agreed again. "Todd is a big boring _dud_. He's even more boring than Phillip! And I only had lunch with him one time." She laughed.

Janet put a hand over her eyes.

"Oh, shit. I- Janet! I don't think Phillip's _boring_, just uh-"

"I can't believe Jack's at that party all alone!" Janet cut her off.

"He's not alone! It's a party! There's a bunch of people there!"

"But he doesn't _know_ anybody there!"

"He knows Phillip! And Josh!"

"That's not what I _mean_." Janet moaned. "He's over there with a bunch of people he doesn't fit in with when he could be over here with me having _fun_\- and with you guys too."

Terri patted her shoulder. "I think he'll be okay, Janet. It's only one night!"

"I don't know anyone at Phillip's party either." The realization dawned on her. "But that's not for one night. That's till I die." She recalled Terri's comment about marriage from earlier in the night.

The girls stood against the wall looking and feeling terribly somber.

'_Oh, where did I go wrong, my love? What petty crime was I found guilty of? What better time to find a brand new day. Wanderlust away.'_

"I don't think I would have fun at Phillip's party." Janet finally repeated.

Terri nodded faintly. "Then I guess it's good you're not there, huh?"

"I'm gonna be." Janet stared at the floor.

"Huh?" Terri asked, missing what Janet was implying. "Are we crashing Phillip's party?"

Janet didn't answer and instead finished her drink.

Her song came to a close and Doug the DJ's voice came over the speakers again. "This next one is for Terri. I don't know any songs with your name, but I think this is close enough. If you feel like talking some more, you know where to find me."

"Oh Sherrie" by Steve Perry started playing and Terri just laughed as people reflooded the dance floor in seconds.

"You know what, Terri? You're right." She gestured for the blonde to follow her.

"I am?"

"We should be having fun like you said. I don't know why I'm not having fun."

"Oh! Well…" They bobbed and weaved between people. "It's probably because you keep thinking about Jack!" She stated the obvious.

"Ugh, Jack!" Janet scowled at the name, even though she was just stressing over whether or not he was having a good time. "He always ruins everything."

"He sure does!"

She had led them right back to the bar.

"He's not even _here_ and he's ruining _my_ night." She waved her glass around a little too freely. "In my head!"

"Screw that guy." A random woman sitting near them added.

"Yeah!" Terri shouted back.

"We should be having _fun_." Janet declared. "Barkeep." She slapped the bar. "The next round is on me!" She received cheers from all around her.

Terri tapped her shoulder. "You didn't bring any money."

"Right…" She paused. "But it's my party. What the hell! Anything goes!" More cheers from the surrounding club goers.

If Terri were sober she would've been much more concerned about how much this night was gonna cost. After all, she was the one paying since she was the designated party thrower.

"Are you good, Janet?" She asked instead. "We can call Larry and go home now if you want."

Janet rested her elbow on the bar. "Terri, I don't want to go home _now_. If we go home now, then I'm just gonna be up all night thinking about _Jack_."

"You're already thinkin' about him."

"Yeah. Yeah, I _am_. But if we stay out late enough then by the time we get home, I'll be too sleepy to think about him. Besides, there are lots of distractions here."

"Okay." Terri relented. "It's your party."

"And I'm gonna have fun, dammit."

…

As promised, Larry walked into the nightclub at 2am to retrieve the girls. He only got distracted by random dancing women about four times before he found Terri, laughing daintily as a man whispered something in her ear.

Larry had to wave his hand pretty vigorously before she registered his face in the flashy strobing lights.

"Larry!" She gasped in a genuinely cheerful voice.

The guy talking to her looked him up and down. "Who's this?"

"It's Larry!" She repeated sweetly. "He's my date for the wedding!"

"Your _date_?"

"Uh uh!" She nodded. "Larry, this is Mateo. Mateo, Larry."

"Look, blondie." Mateo said. "I'm not interested in messing with another guy's girl.

Terri's laugh turned giddy.

"And you should treat your boyfriend a little better. Going out and getting numbers from other guys." He lectured her.

"Yeah!" Larry chimed in.

Mateo stalked away from the "couple" before either could explain themselves.

Terri refocused her eyes on the neighbor. "Larry."

"Terri."

"Is it time to go?" She wondered.

"You said to pick you up at two. It's two."

"Did I say that? Aw, and we were having such a good time." Terri whined.

He looked at his watch. "You got five more minutes. I'm trying to get home before sunrise."

"No! Let's go now! I'm starving!" She widened her eyes. "Let's go get pizza."

She hopped down from her stool and stumbled on the landing. "Woah!" She grabbed his arm for support.

"Okay. We're going now then." Hopefully she'd forget about the pizza. "Where are Janet and Jenny?"

"They… went to the bathroom." She pointed around the room trying to remember what direction the bathrooms were when the sisters came into view looking quite distraught.

"What's the matter?" Terri questioned.

"So we're all ready to go then?" Larry also asked.

"No we're not ready to go, _Larry_." Janet sneered at him. "One of my shoes is gone!"

And sure enough, Janet was standing before them looking lopsided with only one black heel.

Terri gasped. "Where did it go?"

"Someone stole it." Jenny stated.

Larry started laughing thinking it was a joke but stopped upon receiving matching death glares from the sisters. "I'm sorry, someone stole your shoe? Why were you taking your shoe off in a public bathroom? That's disgusting."

"_You're _disgusting." Terri smiled at him.

"I didn't take my shoe off in the bathroom, Larry." Janet snapped. "We were in line for the bathroom and I took off my shoe because my heel hurt from dancing. And then when I went to put it back on, it was gone!"

Terri gasped again. "So who took it?"

"If we knew, then we would've had both shoes here safe." Jenny explained. "Because I would've gotten it back for her."

"I don't buy it. Who would steal just one shoe?" Larry asked. "You probably just lost it and didn't look hard enough for it."

Jenny cocked her head. "Okay, you can go and find her shoe then."

"But I'm so hungry!" Terri whined. "That's gonna take too long!"

Larry put his hands up. "Okay, okay. Someone stole it then."

"So am I supposed to just go outside with one shoe?" Janet was equally as whiny.

"Guess so." Larry shrugged.

"I can't do that! It's raining! The streets are so dirty here!"

"We're not walking home." Larry explained. "You just have to walk to the car."

Terri squinted at him. "How far away did you park?"

"Just down the street."

Janet began to pout and tried to sit down right there on the floor in the club. Luckily, Jenny pulled her up before she could do so.

"Can we just go?" Larry asked impatiently.

"Yeah, we have to go." Terri agreed. "We're getting pizza!" Her face lit up. "Doesn't that sound yummy, Janet? Pizza!"

Janet put a hand to her face. There was nothing in the world she wanted more in that moment than some pizza. Pizza would make her forget about her shoe. "I want pizza."

"We're not getting pizza." Larry broke it to the girls.

There were gasps from all around.

"But you said we could get pizza!" Terri exclaimed.

"I did not say that."

Jenny let go of Janet to cross her arms and Janet fell forward, stumbling into Terri's back.

"See, now you've gone and upset everyone! Janet's pushing me!"

"We are not going out to eat with you all this drunk. It's an embarrassment."

"We are not that drunk." Jenny claimed.

Larry raised an eyebrow and looked between them. "Yeah, you might not be. But these two look like hazards to society."

Terri smacked him. "Take us to get pizza!"

"Yeah!" Janet joined in.

The standoff lasted for a few moments more before Larry finally relented once the girls started chanting "pizza" and were joined by a few people in their proximity.

Jenny solved the problem of Janet's only having one shoe by offering to give her sister a piggyback ride while they walked to Larry's car. Unfortunately, Jenny, being about the same size as Janet and not being as sober as she believed herself to be, was doing a poor job of giving the piggyback ride, slowing them down a great deal.

Once everyone finally settled into his car, Larry started his car and the radio came to life just in time for them to hear the disc jockey announce, "This next song goes out to Eric from Sam. He says, 'ABBA _did_ have a song called Waterloo. Here's the proof. And how could you not remember it? What were you doing ten years ago?' Well, Eric, I hope you enjoy the song. And I'm going to side with Sam here, how could you not remember this one? Shame on you, Eric." The woman stopped talking and Waterloo began playing.

Janet was nestled into the corner of the backseat. Despite her declaration that her having a good time at the club would be a good distraction and that the late hour combined with the exhaustion from dancing would put her to sleep the second she got into bed, she didn't think to take into account the time in between the club and home. Now she was very drunk and sitting still, fresh off the upset of losing her shoe, so naturally her mind took her directly to the other thing that was upsetting her. Jack.

Thanks to her drunk state of mind, the thought of Jack was intense. The car started moving and she could only vaguely register Jenny flipping through her napkin numbers and Terri and Larry in the front debating which pizza places were even open at this hour.

Why was she even marrying Phillip? As some kind of escape from this endless cycle with Jack that she created in her own head? What was the point? Half the time she forgot Phillip was in the picture!

Things could be so great with her and Jack. They already got along so well. It was just a shame that she couldn't figure out how to tell him that or even gauge whether he'd ever go for it with her.

But then why wouldn't he? Was that so far fetched? No! There were plenty of times where she looked into his eyes and swore he felt the same way. She just always chalked it up to her being delusional and too hopeful, so she always shot down her own assumptions because it was too good to be true. And if he really did feel like she did when why wouldn't _he _act on it? No, he couldn't feel the same way. Jack Tripper wasn't the type to not tell a woman how he felt.

That's what sober Janet thought.

Intoxicated Janet had a little more hope or maybe just no fucks to give anymore. She was tired of lamenting over this. She decided right there in the back of Larry's car that when they got home she would ask Jack to tell her what he meant to tell her and then _she_ would tell him that she was in love with him. How about _that_? It was the perfect plan. She felt fearless but also like she could break down and cry at any second. It was anyone's guess.

If he said he didn't love her back, well then she'd have a good cry and pick herself up and marry Phillip like sober Janet planned. But if he said he loved her too… oh, what if he said it back?!

A nervous thrill came over her and she forgot she was still in the car and it would be some time before they'd actually be home.

Presently, Terri was singing very badly along to the Thompson Twins' "Hold Me Now", hand covering the dial to keep Larry from changing the station. Exhilarated by her new plan, Janet joined Terri in singing along. Jenny even jumped in on the fun.

'_So perhaps I should leave here and go far away, but you know that there's nowhere else that I'd rather be than with you here today.'_

Larry had to turn the volume on blast so he could drown out their voices.

The car eventually came to a stop at a small pizza parlor with a neon lit sign on the front that read, Harry & Barry's Pizza.

"Okay. I'll go get the pizza. You girls stay in the car. I'll be right back." Larry said.

Terri ignored his order and unbuckled her seatbelt.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"Making sure you get the right pizza." She answered him.

"I will. Don't worry."

Terri kept moving to get out of the car. "Half pepperoni, half Hawaiian?"

"Half what? Are you crazy? It's gonna be a classic pepperoni."

"On one half." Terri nodded along. "The other half is Hawaiian."

"No, no, no." Larry was scandalized.

"What? It's a good pizza flavor, Larry."

"It's an outrage." He grabbed for his wallet and opened his door.

Terri tried opening her own door unsuccessfully before Jenny, who was seated behind her, pulled the lock up for her.

She voiced her thanks and went to catch up with Larry to make sure he didn't leave out her pineapple and ham.

It was actually quite peaceful in the car once Larry and Terri walked into Harry & Barry's and their debate was out of earshot. Volume turned down, the radio continued playing softly. The rain had let up a bit and so droplets sprinkled on the windows without a sound.

Jenny lightly kicked Janet's knee. "Hey."

Janet kicked her back. "What?"

"You have fun tonight? You know, apart from getting your shoe stolen?"

"Yeah. I had fun." That wasn't entirely true. Although she had a better time around the second half of the time, the real determiner for whether this was going to be a good night overall was yet to come.

"So what's the deal with you and that bartender? You were talking half the night."

Jenny picked up the napkin at the top of her little stack of numbers and waved it around. "His name's Jermaine. He was telling me about the craziest things he's seen working there." She laughed reminiscing. "He's also recently divorced. Has a six year old daughter."

"Oh?" Janet asked. "You two have a lot in common then."

"Yeah. I told him I'm only in town for the next week though." Her sister shrugged.

"That's too bad. He was nice."

"Eh, what can you do. Whatever happens, happens."

...

Larry did a double take at Terri now that they were in the light of the tiny pizza parlor and could see her more clearly. "Why is my phone number written on your arm?"

Terri looked down and sure enough, there was a string of big sloppy letters written along her arm in black marker. It took a moment to jog her memory. "Oh! We wrote it down in case we forgot it."

"So you wrote it on your _arm?_ They didn't have any napkins laying around?"

"Of course there were napkins, but we didn't want it to get mixed up with all of the guys' numbers Jenny got on napkins. Duh."

Larry leaned forward on the counter.

She mimicked Larry's movement. "We tried writing it on Janet's arm, but we accidentally wrote our own number so we had to scratch it out." She rambled on. "And then she didn't want to write all over her other arm too." She yawned. "I don't think Janet had a very good time."

"No?"

Terri shook her head. "Nope. She's been real _grumpy_." She poked her index finger onto the counter with emphasis.

"Maybe she's just a mean drunk." Larry thought. "Wouldn't be too different from sober Janet."

Terri smacked him.

"What?"

"If you think Janet's mean, it's because you deserve it."

"I think she's just high strung. Don't know what Jack sees in her." He shrugged but massaged the part of his arm that she hit.

The blonde squinted at him with her bleary blue eyes.

"But to each their own, sheesh." Larry said quickly. "Do you think they'll get it together before the wedding?" He asked since they were now on the subject.

She yawned and tilted her head so that it rested on his shoulder. "I hope so."

"Why not just tell her for him?"

"It's more romantic and sincere if he does it himself." Terri spoke watching the young employee in the back throwing the pizza dough in the air. "We should get breadsticks too."

"We already ordered breadsticks."

"We did? Wow, that was so smart of us.

…

Thirty minutes after they acquired their pizza, the group finally made it back to their apartment building. Anxious to get on with talking to Jack, Janet stumbled up the steps to their place ahead of the others. But when she went to open the door, the knob wouldn't turn.

Terri, Larry, and Jenny had taken their time coming up the stairs so they found Janet standing in front of the door looking puzzled.

"Did you forget how to open doors?" Jenny teased.

"No, it won't open. I tried."

"What?" Terri asked. She pushed her way to the door, handing the pizza off to Jenny. She jiggled the door excessively but it wouldn't give way.

"Who has the key?" Jenny asked.

"The real question is who locked the door?" Janet asked in return. She held on to her remaining shoe in one hand and banged on the door with the other. "Jack? Are you home?"

"I locked it when we left." Jenny answered her. Janet and Terri's mouths fell open in dismay. "What? Did you lose the key or something?"

Terri stood there looking dumbfounded. Larry was still working on his slice of pizza.

"We didn't bring a key." Janet finally said.

"You didn't bring a key?" Jenny repeated. "You're kidding me."

Terri shook her head.

"Well, why didn't you?"

"We don't usually lock our door!" Janet stamped her foot and tried jiggling the door open one more time.

"You don't usually lock your door?" Jenny exclaimed. "Are you crazy?"

"How are we going to get inside?" Terri wailed.

Always the problem solver, Janet announced, "I'm gonna go downstairs and get Mr. Furley."

"It's three in the morning!" Jenny retorted.

"Do you want to stay out here for the rest of the night?" Janet, secured her shoe in her arms and began a clumsy walk back down the stairs to awaken their landlord.

"Mr. Furley's not here." Larry spoke through a mouthful of pizza.

Janet spun around. "What?"

"Where'd he go?" Terri asked.

"Went to visit his mother for the weekend. It's her birthday."

"That's terrible!"

"What are we gonna do?" Tears began to well in Janet's eyes out of frustration. Of course this would happen. Her courage to talk to Jack was already ebbing away and this minor setback felt catastrophic when you were drunk at 3am.

"Oh, no, Janet don't cry!" Terri whimpered. "If you cry then I'm gonna cry. It's okay!"

"No, it isn't! This is the worst night ever!" She tossed her shoe and it went over the balcony making a loud bang when it landed.

Larry rushed over to the edge to take a look. "My car!"

Jenny joined him to see what happened and she put a hand over her mouth to stifle her laughter. "You dented the hood!"

"Who cares!" Janet grumbled. "That's just the cherry on top. Isn't it?" She slid down to sit on the welcome mat outside their door. "Everything just has to go wrong."

"Oh come on, Janet. It's only Larry's car. It'll be okay." Terri went to sit down next to her.

"Hey!" Larry said angrily.

"There are worse things than your car getting one tiny little itty bitty dent." Terri said. "We're locked out of our apartment!"

"Can't we just go in through the window or something?" Jenny asked, walking around to inspect the other potential entrance.

Terri pulled a napkin out of the bag with the breadsticks and handed it to Janet. "No. They're locked."

"Of course." Jenny threw her hands in the air. "You don't lock your front door, but your windows are nice and secure."

All was quiet except for the sound of Terri rustling the paper bag to retrieve another breadstick.

Jenny sidled up next to Larry, who was still hunched over the balcony. "You should let us sleep at your place tonight."

"Why?"

"Aren't they your friends?"

"Jack is my friend. I was tricked into helping these two out tonight."

"Tricked?"

"Yes, I was deceived! Enticed by a beautiful woman. Lured in to having to be a part of this madness. And what do I get in return? A night of no sleep, a dent in my car, and pizza sauce all over the backseat." He aimed that last point at Jenny.

"_And_ a date to the wedding!" Terri added. "You knew what you were getting yourself into."

"You know I'm starting to wonder if that's even worth it anymore."

"Oh, come on Larry." It took a wobbly effort for Terri to stand back up. "You're really excited to be going out with me to the wedding."

"Am I?"

"I can uninvite you then." She handed him a breadstick. "I'm good either way."

Larry sighed and looked at the breadstick. "I'm never gonna hear the end of it if I don't let you girls sleep at my place tonight, huh?"

Terri smiled and shook her head.

He grabbed the bag and put the breadstick back into it. "Okay. Let's go, ladies. Upstairs."

"Yay!" Terri cheered.

Everyone else started moving but Janet remained seated. "Hold on! We have to leave a note for Jack for when he gets back too! So he knows where to go!"

Using one of the napkins they'd received with their pizza and a pen from her purse, Janet took a painstakingly long time writing the note for Jack.

"Jesus, woman. Are you writing the next great American novel?" Larry complained. "Wrap it up already."

Janet flipped him the bird, but clicked her pen and put it away.

After resorting to taping the note up to the door with one of the band-aids in Terri's travel supply, they finally headed up the next flight of stairs. Larry was whining to Terri, saying something like, "What did I say? Mean drunk."

…

**Roughly Three Hours Later**

A loud fist hammering on the door woke Terri up with a start. She sat up straight and for a second she thought the hammering was her head based on the pounding headache she had. But no, that was definitely the door. She ran a hand over her face and barely registered that she was at Larry's place. She swung her legs over the couch and stood up, but rather than landing on the hard floor, her feet connected with Larry's sleeping body.

They both yelped and jumped up from their spots and the pounding on the door continued.

"Would you answer your door?" Terri hissed.

Larry was massaging his chest. "I told you to take those things off before you went to sleep." He gestured to her heels. "I don't wanna lose my shoes like Janet!" He mimicked her slurring drunk voice.

"Answer the door!"

"Sorry, I'm a little slow. You just impaled me." But he went over to the door and opened it and finally the hammering came to an end.

A little old lady stood before him in a pink bathrobe and fluffy slippers.

"Mrs. Henderson! What brings you here at this- what time is it?"

He turned to get a glimpse of the clock hanging on the wall but the woman croaked. "It's 6:30."

"6:30." Larry repeated. "Why were you banging on the door at this hour? You're disturbing the tenants."

"Boo hoo." She said. "Like you and your little lady friend were causing a ruckus at three this morning. And like you and your little lady friends do every weekend?"

"I resent that. I'm very respectful of my neighbors."

Terri came and joined Larry at the door. "Good morning, Mrs. Henderson." She smiled.

The woman gaped. "Terri Alden from 201?" She looked between the two of them. "Well, I never would have imagined."

"Imagined what?" Terri asked.

"What did you actually come here for, Mrs. Henderson? Besides spying, as per _usual_."

Larry and the old woman sneered at one another before Terri spoke up. "Well?"

"I got a call from a friend of Jack's. He said he couldn't get a hold of his roommates, and I can see why." She eyed Terri, who frowned at her. "He also tried calling your phone but said the line was disconnected."

"Oh, no. Is something wrong with your phone?"

"No. I just take the receiver off the hook before I go to sleep at night." He explained. "I don't like to be disturbed you see."

"Yes, I do." Mrs. Henderson said, shaking her head. "Luckily, the young man found my number in Jack's wallet and told me to find you and tell you that Jack's in the hospital."

"_What?_" Terri and Larry asked together.

"That's all I know. I hope the poor dear is okay."

"Oh my god." Terri ran a hand through her hair.

"Yes, yes. And you were up here with this devil child while Jack was in the emergency room." Mrs. Henderson criticized her. "You'd better get a hold of Janet. That darling. She'll be worried sick."


	13. Chapter 13: Hangover Revelations at 7am

Note: Hi, everyone! Here's the continuation from the cliffhanger at the end of the last chapter lol. And thank you for the lovely reviews, you're all too kind. Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 13: Hangover Revelations in the Hospital at 7am**

The hospital had been as calm and quiet as any hospital could relatively get considering it wasn't even seven in the morning on a Sunday, that was until Janet burst through the entrance with Terri, Jenny, and Larry close on her heels. Wild eyed, she dashed towards the nearest information desk demanding to know Jack's whereabouts.

"Janet?"

She whipped around. There stood her brother looking relieved but still worse for wear in his now damp dress suit. "Josh!"

"God, I can't tell you how glad I am Mrs. Henderson got in touch with guys. I really didn't want to get Jack into a taxi and haul him up to your place all by myself."

"Well, where is he? Is he okay?"

"He's alright." He assured her as she and the others flocked around him. "It's actually not that bad."

"God, Josh. What _happened_?" Jenny blinked hard as she adjusted to being in the hospital and not in bed. There had been a lot of scrambling around once Terri shook the sisters awake and told them what was going on, so everything was very disorienting at the moment.

Josh heaved a sigh. "Well, it was really late I mean, past three o'clock late, so he was drunk. I mean, my god, he was _wasted_." He hoped this would be the last time he had to recount the event. "The band was still going and I was trying to get him to sit down and relax, but he insisted on dancing."

The others nodded along, hanging on to his every word.

"And then he's dancing pretty close to the railing, but I don't think much of it, you know? It's pretty hard to fall off a yacht."

Terri put a hand over her mouth, suspecting what was coming.

"Next thing I know, he's tripping over his own feet and loses his balance, and he goes right over the edge."

Janet and Jenny gasped. Larry muttered an, "Oh, boy."

"Well, I should say he went over the edge and banged his head up trying to catch himself on the railing and _then_ he fell into the water."

Terri cringed.

"It ended up being like a backflip into the water."

It was way too early for any of this. Everyone should have been in bed sleeping off their hangovers. It was hard to believe Jack and Josh's night still hadn't even come to an end.

"So here we are."

"And he's okay?" Janet pressed.

Josh ran his hands through his now unruly curly hair. "Yeah. I mean, he had to get a few

stitches on his head. But he's doing well, all things considered."

"So why are _you_ soaked?" Jenny asked.

"Someone had to go after him when he fell in the water." He said simply. "Believe me, he was in no state to swim."

There was a beat and Larry gave him an appreciative pat on the back. "I'm glad you were there, man."

Terri nodded and asked, "Are _you _alright?"

"Me? Oh, I'm fine." Josh replied. "Yeah, I mean, I can't tell if I'm running on adrenaline or if I'm still a little drunk, but I'm still standing."

After some more needless questioning, mostly from Janet, Josh finally led them to the little room where Jack was supposed to be resting. They got quite a few stares from passersby, but to be fair they were an odd looking group. Aside from Larry, who was dressed in his pajamas and a silky robe to boot, everyone was still wearing what they had on the night before and looked like they could each do with a change of clothes and a shower. Because they were still locked out of their apartment, Janet was sliding around in a pair of Larry's slippers which were several sizes too big.

Josh eventually came to a stop and rapped lightly on the door before them. A meek "Come in." signaled their welcome and Josh stepped into the room.

"Oh, Josh! Hi!" The others heard Jack's voice turn cheery.

He signaled for the rest of the group to follow in behind him and Jack lit up when he saw Janet walk in behind her brother.

"Janet! You're here!"

And there he was, laying in a hospital bed with a bandage covering part of his forehead. Clearly he was the biggest sufferer of the night.

"Jack!" Janet rushed to his bed to inspect him for herself. "Are you okay? Josh said you hit your head?"

He grabbed her hand. "I feel _great, _Janet! I didn't even feel the stitches when they were sewing me up! Josh! Look who's here! It's Janet!"

"Yeah." Josh nodded along. "I noticed that, buddy."

"My god." Jenny murmured to the others while Janet was examining Jack's forehead. "What kind of drugs did they give him?"

"Oh, he's just still drunk." Terri observed.

Jack finally registered that it wasn't just Janet and Josh in the room with him. "Hey, guys! Look, Janet. The gang's all here!"

"Yeah. They sure are." Janet swiveled her head to look at the others before returning her attention to him. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I feel _great._" He repeated. Then he laughed. "I haven't had frosted flakes in years. We should get some for the apartment."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Because they're grrreeat!" He swung her hand back and forth.

An older woman knocked on the open door before joining the party in the room. "Oh! It looks like your friends finally made it!"

"They sure did. This is Janet." Jack stuck his index finger in Janet's face.

"Well, that's wonderful, dear." The nurse replied in a soothing voice while nodding to Janet. "I just came in to check in one last time to make sure all is well."

Jack used Janet's hand to pull himself into a seated position. "All is very well. It's _great._" He smiled a big cheesy grin at Janet instead of the nurse.

"Good, good. Well, Dr. Thomas said you're all clear to go home. Just make sure you take it easy. And get some rest!"

"Yes, ma'am." He said obediently.

"Goodbye now. Take care." The nurse nodded at everyone in the room and turned around to leave, but she did a double take as she did so. "Nurse Alden?"

Terri smiled weakly. "Hi, Nadia." She tried fixing her hair by patting it down with her hand.

Nadia the nurse put two and two together and began to chuckle. "Oh, don't tell me _this_ is the Jack you live with?"

Hand still on her head, Terri nodded.

Nadia looked over at the roommate in question. Janet had taken a seat on the edge of his bed and was listening to him go on about Frosted Flakes and Tony the Tiger.

"And that has to be the Janet."

"It sure is."

Nadia shook her head and said with a sympathetic laugh, "Oh, honey, they're just as you described. You poor thing."

Larry puffed out his chest. "And how has she described Larry?"

The nurse looked him up and down. "I don't think you want to know."

"Why not?"

"I don't want to hurt your feelings, dear."

"But she _does_ talk about me then?" He asked, taking it in stride.

Terri and Nadia shared a knowing look.

"Well, I need to get going. I'll see you tomorrow, Terri." Nadia patted her shoulder. "And sweetie, do not leave out any details when you tell me about your night out, yeah?"

"You know I always tell you everything. See you tomorrow."

Nadia looked back at Jack and Janet before winking at her coworker and leaving the room.

Jenny had joined Jack and Janet by the bed to get a better look at his injury and to also laugh a little at how drunk he was. "I'm glad you're okay, but it sure sounds like you know how to have a good time."

"Well, hey. That's me." He was suddenly cool. "I always know how to have a good time. I know how to have a grrreat time." He laughed. "Grrrreat!"

"You sure do." Jenny agreed. She turned to Josh. "We should call the parents to give us a ride back. There won't be enough room in Larry's car for the six of us."

Josh nodded and murmured something about being sick of standing around in that wet suit for hours, and so they said their see you laters to Janet and her friends and headed in the direction where Terri told them they would find a phone.

Their leaving brought a sudden hush over the room which made Terri and Larry's presence seem somehow intrusive, like they shouldn't be listening to Jack and Janet talk about breakfast cereal.

But as she watched Jack ramble drunk nonsensical things to Janet, who nodded along and managed to keep the conversation going effortlessly, Terri still couldn't understand how the love they had for one another wasn't obvious to _them_. Their shared language- spoken and unspoken- was that of two people so enamored by each other, she wasn't sure they were even conscious of it. Everything from how they looked at each other to how they spoke to the other to how they moved around and with one another just seemed so ingrained into them, so natural, it just was.

Maybe that's why they each just couldn't tell how the other felt, because it had been this way for so long and there had never been one specific defining moment where the love between two friends switched to something more. It had just happened quietly, taking them each by surprise when they finally realized how their feelings had changed over the years.

The soft, light-hearted discussion between Jack and Janet continued on as if they weren't currently sitting in a room at a hospital with their friends, some of them hungover, one still drunk, and everyone in need of sleep.

Terri tried catching Larry's eye, but he was busy peeking in drawers and looking behind curtains. She cleared her throat. "Well, we should probably make sure they can get in touch with your parents before we just leave them stranded here. Plus, Jack will want some privacy getting dressed."

Janet looked up, mildly surprised to find Terri and Larry were still in the room. "Oh, right."

Terri's eyes moved between her roommates. Janet's reluctance to leave the room gave Terri the sense that she wanted to be alone with Jack for a little while. She briefly thought how crazy it would be if Janet tried talking to Jack about anything seriously while he was that drunk, but she'd gladly give them their space.

"Larry, let's go get some coffee for everyone."

"Hang on." He shut a drawer. "I want to hear how exactly Jack ended up tumbling off a yacht. I need the details."

"Later." She said. "Help me with the coffee."

"I'm very awake. I don't need coffee."

"_Larry._"

He wasn't catching on. "What? Aren't you curious?"

She grabbed his arm and cocked her head towards Jack and Janet and then said in a low voice, "I think you and I should go and get coffee."

He gave her a confused look."Okay, fine! I'll help you get your coffee. sheesh! Women."

He yelped when she tightened her grip on his arm and surrendered to being steered out of the room, leaving Jack and Janet to be alone at last.

They both watched the door close itself.

"Those two have been acting so weird all night." Janet noted.

"Terri and Larry?" Jack asked loudly. "Ter' and Lar'?"

"Yes. Those two." She laughed. God, he was so drunk.

"Do you think they're… you know…" He tried being subtle but his wink and the waggle of his eyebrows were so exaggerated, it reminded her of Chrissy.

Janet laughed again. "I don't think so."

Jack put a hand up to his bandage and patted it absentmindedly. "It's not so crazy."

"What makes you think that?" She asked, pulling his hand away from his wound.

He blinked so slowly that she thought he was trying to go to sleep but he was actually just trying to concentrate on getting the words from his brain to his mouth.

"Sometimes it just happens when two people have known each other for a while."

Janet remained skeptical. "Sure, but Terri and _Larry_?"

He shrugged his shoulders up and down. "He's always liked her. Thought you knew that."

"Larry likes all women. He'd hit on my mother if given the chance." She shuddered.

"Sometimes a guy likes one more than the others." He stated with such a sober air about him that for a moment she thought maybe he'd been faking being drunk this whole time.

And the beat in their conversation after this comment made her feel like he wasn't really talking about Larry.

But then the subject turned on a dime and he was suddenly jabbering about how cold the ocean is at night, and asking her if she thought the fish got cold.

…

"Who wants coffee?" Larry called out when he and Terri joined Josh and Jenny in the waiting area, both towing paper cups.

Jenny obliged graciously but Josh passed, claiming his dive into the ocean had done a good job waking him up.

"So did you get in touch with your parents?" Terri asked, taking a seat next to Jenny, who had sprawled out over several chairs so she could lie down.

"Yeah. They're on their way." She answered. "Ugh. This coffee is awful."

Larry took a sip from his own cup and gagged. "Jesus. Don't you have a work room or something where all the nurses and doctors get their own coffee?"

"We do, but I'm not on duty."

"So?"

"_So_ I'm not taking coffee from the people who are working. Drink the coffee you have. You'll live."

Larry continued to gag dramatically every time he took a sip from the drink and Terri rolled her eyes each time he did so. Jenny watched her brother pace back and forth, and back and forth.

"So are you gonna tell us what's up or not?" She finally asked him.

He stopped in his tracks. "What makes you think there's something going on?"

"Because it's your tell. And I haven't seen you pace this much since Janet made you help her chop all her hair off the night before her graduation."

Obviously, this made Larry quit the dramatics over the coffee. "Oh? Do we have a secret that needs sharing?"

Josh sighed. "I don't know if it's my place to say."

"Ah." Jenny turned on her side and propped herself on her elbow. "No, now we definitely don't want to know."

He looked up at the ceiling.

"Take a seat, Josh." Larry ordered.

"Yeah!" Jenny pointed at a chair across from her.

He rubbed a hand over his tired face but trudged over and took a seat so that he was facing the other three.

He looked from one expectant face to the next and to the next and hoped he was right in bringing it up. "Have you guys noticed anything off about Jack?" He began carefully. "Or is he always like this?"  
"He's a pretty clumsy guy, Josh." Larry said.

Terri shook her head at Larry, but smiled sweetly at Josh. "What do you mean?"

He swept the room with his eyes to make sure Jack and Janet weren't coming.

"He just really seemed like he had something on his mind."

"Last night?" Jenny asked.

Josh gave her an exasperated look that reminded everyone of Janet. "No, Christmas of 1973." He deadpanned. "Yes, last night. What else would I be talking about?"

"I was just making sure, _god_."

"Okay, Janet Two and Three." Larry snapped his fingers at them. "Get on with it."

"Very funny." Josh said.

"I said go on. What happened?"

"Aside from falling off the yacht, nothing really happened, but he was talking a lot about Janet."

Terri and Larry exchanged a quick glance, but Jenny replied before either of them could.

"That's all?"

"Maybe you had to be there, but Janet was kind of all he talked about."

"Is that so?" Terri questioned before taking a casual sip of coffee.

"Uh, yeah. He wasn't really in the mood to mingle with anyone else at the party, so I can confirm that Janet was his main topic of choice." He gave the three of them a significant look, hoping they'd catch on.

Jenny was not taking him seriously at all and peered into her cup. "Boring. Who would want to talk about Janet all night?"

Josh clasped his hands together and slowly said, "Maybe someone who really cares a lot about her... someone who may be regretting some things…"

Terri's eyes widened slightly. Had Jack really spilled his guts to Janet's brother? "...Do you know what I think you know?"

He remained calm. "What do you think I know?"

"What did Jack say to you?"

Though he wasn't as stubborn as Janet, he was still her brother. "What do you think he said?"

Larry leaned back in his chair. "Well, _I_ think he probably told you he's in love with Janet."

There was the smallest of pauses as everyone took in what he just said. Terri didn't know whether or not to smack him for saying it.

"Wait, wait, wait." Jenny swung herself up into a seated position so she could lean over to gawk at Larry. "_What_?"

"You heard me."

"Why would you think he'd say that?"

"'Cause he told me."

Terri bent forward and put her head in her hands.

"He _told_ you?" Jenny looked like her brain was short circuiting.

"Of course! I'm his best friend."

"And he told _Josh_?" For some reason that minor detail was more shocking to her than the fact that Jack Tripper was in love with her sister.

"Woah, okay." Josh put his hands up. "He didn't tell me all that."

Terri took her head out of her hands to give Larry the smack she thought he needed. "Nice going."

"_But_." Josh continued. "I kinda figured. It's pretty obvious."

"Huh." Larry said specifically to Terri. "Yeah, I was just stating the obvious. So keep your hands to yourself."

"He kept going on about how much he was going to miss her and how he was running out of time and stuff." Josh explained.

Jenny blinked. "When was anyone gonna tell _me_?"

Terri was glaring at Larry but stated, "I think Jack was going to wait until after he told _Janet_."

"After he tells her?" Jenny exclaimed. "The wedding is in six days!"

"Yeah." Terri gave her a thin lipped smile. "I know."

The very close date of the wedding silenced everyone for a few moments. Terri felt a panic come over her. She and Jack really hadn't accomplished anything over the last couple of weeks. Jack seemed to be telling everyone but Janet how he felt, none of her advice to him had exactly been helpful, and they hadn't even gotten Janet to postpone the wedding like they had so naively planned on doing at the start of this journey.

"Okay." Jenny was the first to speak once again. "What's the problem here? Why hasn't he told her yet?"

"Well, she's getting married to someone else." Terri recounted a summarized version of what Jack had been telling her for the last few weeks. "I'm sure it's hard to get the nerve to tell someone you love them when they're about to start a life with somebody else."

"Yeah, to Phillip." Josh said.

Terri sighed. "Phillip."

They were all thinking the same thing, Jenny was just the one to say it out loud. "She's really marrying _Phillip_ when Jack is right there."

Josh shook his head. Having spent the evening at a party with him, he had a few new thoughts about Phillip. "It's-"

"Stupid." Jenny finished for him. "Janet has always had terrible taste in guys."

"Come on, Jen."

"No, no." She pointed at Josh. "Phillip is so… dull! He barely has a personality. I think we can all agree on that."

"To be fair, I never actually met him." Larry said.

"Well, she's making a huge mistake. Phillip is all wrong for her. I knew it five minutes into that dinner we had with him. And marrying him when _Jack_ is in love with her? You know what, I change what I said before, she doesn't have terrible taste, she has no taste at all."

"Okay, okay." Terri said. "Hold on, now. Let's not be too harsh. You don't even know how she feels about Jack."

Jenny raised her eyebrows. "Do _you_?"

"As a matter of fact, I think I have a pretty good idea. I live with her too after all. Plus, you weren't her chaperone at the club last night." She looked at the guys. "She asked them to play a Paul McCartney song. Paul McCartney. At a nightclub."

"Oh my god, that was _her_?" Jenny winced. "How embarrassing."

However, Larry knew what that implied. "That's great news!"

"It is?"

"Yeah. It means Jack might actually stand a chance."

…

"Janet."

"Jack?"

His head was swimming with emotion. He had just spent the entire night with Phillip and all of his rich friends, or rather, he spent the whole night avoiding Phillip and the other guests while talking Josh's ear off about Janet as the night went on and he got drunker.

And he sure was thinking a lot about what Terri and Larry had advised, that he just get it over with and tell her. He had felt a sense of urgency the whole evening, and the more he talked about Janet, the more he was dying to see her and just _tell_ her something that had meaning, something that she would understand.

But then he went overboard and Josh had to get him to the hospital, and then he had to get stitches, and then Josh was joking that they were stranded there because no one was answering their phones. And then he was getting sleepier and his brain started to feel like mush just like it usually did towards the end of those rare crazy nights when he'd party too hard.

But then she appeared! She was right there! He couldn't go to sleep now! Not when he had something very important to tell her!

And now they were finally alone. She was patiently waiting for him to say whatever it was he was going to say. She wasn't even mad at him for causing such a scene at Phillip's party. He just wished he was sober and not in a hospital gown.

"I missed you last night." He heard himself saying.

She smiled at him. "I missed you too." And she meant it. Their time left together before everything would change was dwindling before their eyes. She was scared that with everything she had to do in the days leading up to the wedding she wouldn't be able to just be with him. And that's why she hung around after everyone left, so she could listen to him talk about Frosted Flakes or anything else he had on his mind.

"Do you remember when we went to Big Bear?"

He registered confusion in Janet's face but in his mind the transition was seamless.

"Sure I do. With Terri and Larry a few months ago?"

"Yeah."

"What about it?"

"Do you remember that magazine quiz?"

"Uh, yeah."

That trip had been an all around mess from start to finish. Jack had been trying to figure out which of his roommates had filled out this quiz that basically said they wanted to have an affair with him. Of course, neither she nor Terri had so much as looked at that magazine.

"You know." He said, his voice a bit wobbly. "I really thought that you filled out that quiz, Janet."

"Well, that's pretty obvious. That's why you invited us up to the cabin in the first place."

"No, no, no!" Jack stressed. "You don't _understand_."

"Oh, so that isn't why you invited us to the cabin?"

"No, it was. I had to make sure but-" He paused. That alcohol, stitches, and no sleep was doing quite the doozy on his brain. "I didn't really think it would be Terri. Especially after we got to the cabin."

More confused than ever, Janet asked, "Okay, why is this so important, Jack?"

"It's important because I thought it would be _you_, Janet."

"Well… it wasn't me."

"I know that. We all know that."

"Remind me why you brought this up." She requested, running a soothing hand over his arm.

"I'm bringing it up because you're getting married in a week, Janet. A week!"

"...Okay." She said slowly. "That's not clearing anything up."

"It's gonna be just like Big Bear." Jack said so emphatically that she almost believed him.

"How on earth is my wedding going to be like Big Bear?"

"Because you're gonna get away before I say what I have to say _just_ like Big Bear."

Janet's stomach swooped and there was something telling her that she had been warned of this conversation a few hours ago. But because of that damn hangover she had, her brain was moving so slow, she couldn't make the effort to connect all the dots.

So she chose to ignore it. "You're telling me that you have something you never got to say to me from when we were in Big Bear? That was months ago! And we left at the same time. I didn't leave you."

"Yes!" He pointed at her. "Yes, you did! I had to tell you something and then I _did_! I told you. And then you ended up being Larry!"

"_What?"_

"And it's gonna be just like that next week because you're gonna get married and leave forever. And if I don't say this to you when it's really you then it will be just like Big Bear."

"Jack, honey. You need to get dressed and stop talking nonsense." She stood up to leave the room. "I'll be right outside the door here. Call me if you need me."

"I need you _now_!" He whined. "I always need you."

She turned on her heel. "Okay, okay. I'll stay." Even though he was clearly drunk out of his mind, she was touched. "What do you need?"

"Don't you _know_?" He asked very dramatically.

"Alright, I'll get your suit." She laughed and went to take it from the hook on the door where it was hanging,

He then let out a theatrical sigh. "You don't wanna know what I told you at Big Bear?"

"I'm all ears, Jack." She insisted as she laid out his clothes at the foot of the bed.

But he didn't say anything. And she credited it to him being drunk and not knowing what he was talking about. So she went on helping him step into his pants. And if he wasn't drunk and so unsteady on his feet, it wouldn't have taken nearly as long as it did.

Once the pants were on, she sat him back down on the bed and guided his arms through the sleeves of his dress shirt. She even took it upon herself to button up his shirt to speed up the process. Her holding him in place by his shirt buttons meant that he was staying relatively still at the moment. And he was gazing at her with such an intensity that she almost pulled away from him and told him to button his own shirt, but she powered through.

"You know." He said in a quiet voice. "It's only natural for two people who have been living together for so long to have certain feelings."

She had three buttons left but her hands immediately stopped and she tilted her head to look into his face.

"What?" She barely breathed out.

"That's what I wanted to say." He whispered. He bravely reached up and cupped her chin in his hand.

'_What is he saying?'_ She thought wildly. "You mean at Big Bear?" Was the only response her brain could muster.

He nodded. "That's when I thought we had the same feelings... " He trailed off. She watched his bleary eyes moving back and forth, searching her own tired ones, searching for something…

"But I don't know if it's the same now."

He dropped his hand from her face, but she was frozen on the spot, hands still on his chest.

"Can you just tell me, Janet? Is it the same? Because I don't know!"

"I… I didn't fill out that quiz." She stupidly said.

"That doesn't matter, Janet." He let himself fall backwards onto the bed. "I really thought you did take the quiz. I _wanted_ it to be you! I thought maybe we wanted the same thing."

She looked down at him, his eyes pleading with her to understand, to just get it for once.

Her head was pounding and she wished she could have this conversation tomorrow when she didn't feel like shit. "So... you thought I wanted to have an affair with you? _That's _what you were hoping I wanted?"

"Well, yeah!" He said with an earnest smile. "Now you're getting it!"

She didn't like the tone with which he said that. "Why would you hope that?"

"_Because_ we've been living together so long. It felt right." He sat back up. "It still feels right."

He reached out his hand to brush her hair out of her face but she pulled away.

"Us having an affair felt right?" She could feel the surprise quickly turning to outrage. "So you think that just because I've lived with you so long, we should just sleep together?"

Jack was stunned. That's not what he meant at all.

"_That's _what you needed me to know before I get married? That you want to sleep with me before I move out? You are such a pig." She spat at him.

She saw the hurt and confusion all over his drunk face but she didn't care, she was just dishing it right back to him.

"_No!_ Janet. No, I didn't- that's not what I'm saying!"

"No." She jumped up from the edge of the bed. "You were beating around the bush, so I said it for you."

She muttered that she'd be waiting for him in the hall, and then stormed out, leaving him speechless.

...

"If she's in love with him too and is still marrying Phillip she's even dumber than I thought." Jenny announced after Terri cleared up what the Paul McCartney song had meant to Janet (it meant something to her because it meant something to Jack).

"You know," Josh spoke up. "I thought there might've been something like that going on." He recalled the unfinished conversation he'd had with his sister the other day about the true nature of her and Jack's relationship.

"Oh, perfect. So she's a total idiot."

"Look, I think they're both just very unsure of themselves. They're just having doubts about how the other feels, that's all." Terri found herself getting defensive of her roommates even though their ignorance to their feelings had been driving her crazy as of late.

"What's wrong with just saying how you feel? It's so easy." Larry shrugged. "They need to stop overthinking and just say it."

Terri cocked her head. "Yeah, you never do that, do you?"

"What?"

"Think things through before you say things."

Jenny raised her voice above theirs. "Anyways, what's the plan?"

"The plan is Jack tells Janet how he feels, before she gets married." Terri stated clearly.

"How do you know that?"

"Because that's what we agreed on."

She blinked. "I can't believe this. This whole time we've been planning this ridiculous wedding and you two have had this whole other thing going on."

"I know." Terri winced guiltily. "It's awful."

"No, no. It makes the trip a lot more interesting." Jenny said honestly. "The only awful thing about it is that weak plan."

"Weak?" Terri asked, knowing very well that it was barely even a plan at that.

"Yeah. How are you gonna say that they're both having doubts about how the other person feels and then say the plan is Jack just tells her?"

"I thought it was a good plan." Larry said. "Simple and straightforward."

"So we're supposed to just sit by and hope Jack does it then? We're not gonna do anything?"

"You know what the problem with you Wood people is?" Larry interjected. "You can't just let things be. You always have to get involved. You're just like your sister."

"Sorry you don't know how to do anything right."

Terri let out a long breath of air. "Alright. What's _your_ plan then?"

Jenny smirked because the answer was so obvious to her. "One of us tells them both."

Terri laughed out loud.

"What?"

"Have you met your sister?"

Jenny opened her mouth to respond but then shut it again.

"She is not going to believe it if someone else tells her. Unfortunately, it has to be Jack."

"And in the event that he doesn't tell her?" Josh asked quietly.

She didn't have an answer to that question and frowned. She didn't want to have to think about it.

Larry downed the rest of his coffee, made a face, and crushed the paper cup in his hand. "Somebody else has to say something then."

Terri began to protest but Jenny spoke over her. "I agree with Larry."

Oh, if her sister could hear her make that statement.

"And I think Terri should be the one to speak up."

"What? Why me?"

"Because you live with them. If Janet has any chance of believing anyone besides Jack, it would be you."

Terri put her head in her hands again.

"So, shall we give them until the wedding or what?" Jenny asked, moving on seamlessly from giving Terri the honors.

"I guess we have to." Josh said. "But that's really cutting it close, don't you think? He wouldn't wait until that last second, would he?"

Larry whistled and then said. "Well, Terri, get ready to speak now or forever hold your peace."

She groaned. This was worse than the hangover she was currently experiencing.

But Jenny showed her no pity. "I'd be glad to do it, but we all know if I spoke up, it would just end up being me and Janet yelling at each other at the altar."

Terri looked up. "So you're gonna throw me to the wolves instead."

"Look, if you chicken out, Josh can do it instead."

Josh blinked. "I can do _what_?"

"For some reason she trusts your judgement more than mine." Jenny explained. "But you only have to do it if Terri doesn't."

Josh and Terri looked at each other, wondering how the hell Jenny got to be in charge when she was the last one of them to find out.

"I'm gonna bring my video camera." Larry grinned. "We'll want to save this moment for posterity."

"You are _not_ bringing a video camera." Terri protested, disgusted by Larry's enthusiasm for the potential drama of the event.

"After what I went through last night, I think I deserve to film the show."

"The _show_? God, why did I let you be my plus one?" She closed her eyes and rubbed at her temple.

"Probably because you actually like me." Larry said, bumping his elbow against hers resting on the armrest between them.

She opened her eyes to squint haughtily at him. "No. That's not it."

"You sure seemed to like him last night." Jenny chimed in with a smirk.

Terri scoffed. "Did I?"

"Yeah. I think kissing kinda speaks for itself." Jenny feigned nonchalance and looked to Josh. "Don't you think so?"

"I mean- I wasn't there, but that's usually what it means, in the general sense."

Though her memory of the events after leaving the nightclub were pretty fuzzy she would not stand for this. "Larry and I did _not_ kiss last night."

"That's right!" Larry stated firmly.

"_Thank you_."

"_You _kissed _me_."

Her mouth fell open.

"I offered you the sofa to sleep on and then you were all over me."

She had a sinking feeling that this was true just based on the stupid look on his face and Jenny's snickering on her other side.

"We thought we were gonna have to stick you in the bedroom with Janet." Jenny stopped herself laughing long enough to say. "You were quite a handful."

"But hey, you were drunk, it was late, you were tired. It could happen to anyone." He added sounding pretty understanding. "But it's good to know how you really feel."

"How I really feel?"

"You know what they say, drunk words are sober thoughts."

"Kissing is an action, not words." She said darkly.

"Well, it sure wasn't a thought you kept to yourself though, was it?"

"You know what? How I really feel is I want to punch you."

Larry and Jenny began laughing. She did not like those two together. It was unnatural.

"Ugh." She stood up. "_Where_ are Jack and Janet? What is taking so long?"

Just as the words were leaving her mouth, Ruth came rushing in with Roland doing a light jog behind her, carrying Katie on his side.

They came to a halt when they recognized the loud laughing group of people.

"Well. I'm going to assume everything is fine since you're all having a jolly good time." Mrs. Wood's stern voice caused the laughter to die down almost instantly.

Josh got up from his chair and the others followed suit. "Don't worry, Mom. Everything is okay. It's nothing serious."

"Nothing serious? You're soaking wet." Ruth touched his suit. "What on earth were you kids doing last night?"

"Mommy." Katie spoke up from Roland's arms, still in her pajamas. "You and Cherry look funny."

"They sure do don't they?" Larry said.

"Well. you should see Aunt Janet." Jenny smiled.

Then as if Jenny's comment had summoned them, Jack and Janet came around the corner. Janet was doing her best to keep Jack upright since his own legs were still jellylike. Terri ran over to meet them so she could help balance Jack out on his other side.

But Janet couldn't stand to be near him and released the side she was supporting once Terri had a good grasp on him, and then she walked forward to the group, leaving Jack and Terri to nearly fall over. Luckily, Josh hurried over to help them out, but before he did, Terri whispered a, "What did you do?" to Jack. He either didn't hear her or chose to ignore the question. If it weren't for his terrible balance, she might've assumed he'd miraculously sobered up. He had the strangest, dejected look on his face, his sad eyes stayed on Janet.

"Jack, dear!" Ruth exclaimed. "How are you feeling?"

"Are you sure he's alright?" Roland's voice sounded concerned.

Of course, everyone turned to Janet for an answer, but it took her a noticeably long time to say anything because she was glaring at the shiny floor. "Oh, him? He's fine."

Jenny, Josh, Larry, and Terri exchanged puzzled glances.

And then Terri suddenly turned on a reassuring smile. "Oh, he's alright! He just needs to get some rest. He had a very long night last night."

"Yes. We _all_ had a long night." Jenny was quick to catch on. "But he's okay. We should head back to the hotel, get some sleep."

"Well, hold on now." Ruth said. "Janet, did you at least have fun last night?"

"Hmm?" Janet picked her head up again. "Oh, yeah. Sure."

"See?" Jenny smiled. "She had a great time." She took their mother by the arm and began to lead her towards the exit. "I'll tell you all about it on the way back."

"_All_ about it?" Ruth asked suspiciously.

"Of course! I have to show you all the guys' numbers I got!"

"Jennifer!"

Jenny looked back over her shoulder. "You coming, Dad? Josh?" She nodded her you're welcome to Terri and Larry.

Josh handed Jack's free side off to Larry before jogging to catch up while Katie waved and called out to Janet and her friends. "Bye, Auntie Janet. Bye, Jack. Bye, Cherry. Bye, Mister."

The ride back was uncomfortably quiet, which didn't make sense because they had all seen how talkative Jack was when they visited him in his room. Terri and Larry had both tried asking if everything was okay, and Janet just mumbled that she was tired and had a headache. Jack didn't answer them at all.

Much to her irritation, Janet and Jack were seated very close together in the backseat in order to avoid the pizza sauce splatter left by Jenny just hours before. The way the stain on the seat was placed, it couldn't be helped that Jack had to lean on Janet's shoulder a bit. But she was so very aware of his arm pressing against hers, and of how silent he was.

It was like the inverse of the ride back from the club last night. Larry and Terri were still in the front seat, though their voices were so quiet she couldn't have made out what they were saying even if she wanted to. But instead of Jenny sitting next to her, she had Jack as her companion. Stupid, thoughtless, cruel Jack. And rather than sitting there in her own drunken elation thinking about how she was finally going to just get it over with and tell him that she loved him, she was sober, hungover, and sitting with the knowledge of how Jack really felt about her.

She stared out the window, not taking in the view whatsoever. Jack was a jerk. She was so stupid.

It made sense though. That's all Jack ever thought of. Sex and women. He was always parading girls in and out of that apartment like it was his second job.

She couldn't believe she let herself think he would say something genuine. She thought he was going to say the thing that she wanted him to say, that's how charged their conversation had felt until she put two and two together. It turned out the only genuine thing he had to say was that he wanted to sleep with her.

Sure, he joked about it with her more times than she could even begin to count, but he'd also joked about it with Terri and with Chrissy. That's all it was, a joke. A joke that she and the others would roll their eyes at and dismiss.

But for him to say he wanted to have an affair with her so fervently felt like a slap in the face when she'd just been agonizing the entire night before about being in love with him and maybe making a mistake marrying Phillip. Not only did he confirm her fear, but he also revealed that he didn't even value their friendship as much as she believed if he wanted to cheapen it with some meaningless affair (and he even had the audacity to bring it up when she was due to be married in less than a week!). That would just group her with all the other women he brought around, and how many of them did he keep in touch with after he got what he wanted?

She hated him so much she could scream. But she remained calm on the surface, holding back angry tears from spilling and revealing how hurt she really was. She didn't know why she had ever expected so much from him.


	14. Chapter 14: Upset and Misinformed

Note: Hello, again! I wasn't originally planning on including this chapter, but ended up thinking it was necessary for the following chapters. Hope you all enjoy! Only two chapters after this one!

* * *

**Chapter 14: Everyone Is Upset But Also Very Misinformed About The Same Thing**

_**four days until the wedding**_

Jack took a seat at one of the tables in his bistro. The place had just closed for the evening, but he wasn't planning on going home any time soon. The cook who worked Tuesday nights was washing dishes and singing along to Elton John's Too Low For Zero, which was playing on the little radio hooked up in the kitchen. The host was busy sweeping up the dining room and avoiding his boss because he was uncharacteristically quiet. He wasn't even teasing the cook for his god awful singing.

The boss stuck his hand in his inner jacket pocket and pulled out the wedding guest list that now had everyone's preferred meal selections. It hardly seemed real to him. He actually had to cater Janet's wedding reception. Despite all the stressing he'd done, he didn't really believe he'd actually end up getting to this part. Counting up how many people ordered the chicken versus the salmon was terribly sobering.

The days after he'd landed himself in the hospital felt simultaneously like a blur and agonizingly long. He knew he messed up bad, but the worst part was that he barely remembered what happened that morning with Janet. He recalled feeling so confident about Big Bear (because that was what he was thinking about before, during, and after getting drunk). Ever since Larry mentioned his little speech at the cabin, he'd been thinking up the right way to bring it up to Janet again. So yes, he definitely brought up the subject of Big Bear. But the thing he remembered most clearly now was how vehemently negative Janet's reaction was. The look on her face was burned into his memory. And then after that? He vaguely registered that they all went up to Larry's place instead of their own, and Terri had ordered him to lie down and he obeyed without protest. The rest was lost thanks to his being wasted.

Now? Now he didn't even know how to put words to what he was feeling. He'd been in a daze for the last two days, barely present to the world around him. He didn't think it would feel like this. He didn't think he would be so _quiet_. Was he in denial? Maybe it was denial. Or maybe it was some weird form of acceptance.

Okay, he was dramatizing a bit. If he was accepting the way things were, he wouldn't have that knot in his stomach that was the major reminder that he wasn't totally numb to it all. He was hurt. This whole time he'd been so scared to act on his feelings for fear of how Janet actually felt. But after having thought about it for a couple of days, he realized that deep down, he really believed they had a good shot, and that he would've told her that he was in love with her and she'd light up and say she felt the same way and then she would call things off with Phillip.

Obviously, that wasn't the case because why would things work out that perfectly for him? When had they ever?

And so now what? Was he supposed to just go about getting ready for the wedding like it was nothing? Because that was no easy task. Janet was _furious_. She refused to speak to him, refused to be in the same room as him for longer than 10 seconds.

God, was the idea of them being together _that _repulsive? And was the mere suggestion in a serious context enough to ruin their friendship forever? Because that fear (that Terri would've said was silly) was starting to feel like his new reality. Yesterday, he kidded himself into thinking that maybe they could just brush it off and pretend it never happened, but brushing it off was pretty hard to do when Janet wouldn't tolerate his presence. He knew there was no brushing off something as big as this. It was too late to fool himself.

The host had reached his table and accidentally swept the broom over his feet. He folded the list and stood up mumbling an apology and then very generously reached for the broom, telling the teen that he and the cook could head on out, that he would finish up closing himself.

Though his employees were grateful to not have to stay later, he wasn't doing it for their benefit. He couldn't go home just yet, not if Janet was still awake packing or something, not when she was so mad at him. He was fully willing to admit it was cowardly. He was scared to face her.

What was really puzzling him today was how harshly she reacted. Wouldn't it have made more sense that the person who would be feeling angry would be the person who poured out their feelings and got rejected? At the end of it all, she was the one getting married. He was going to be left all alone, not her. So why was her reaction so much louder than his grief? Why was she so cruel?

After mopping the kitchen twice, giving the bathrooms each a deep clean, and also scrubbing every single drinking glass until it sparkled, Jack finally gave the bistro one last look around before hitting the lights and locking up. There was no point in staying longer. There was nothing left to do and it was so late. Janet had work the next morning, she'd be asleep by the time he got home.

A light breeze greeted him when he stepped out into the night air. It was nice enough that he considered walking home, but thinking about how he ruined his chance at love was exhausting work, so he plopped himself down in a seat in the middle of a nearly empty city bus that was due to depart from its stop at any minute. He looked at his watch, almost midnight.

Terri had mentioned something about visiting Janet on her lunch break the following day. Though he didn't ask her not to interfere, he honestly had no hopes that Terri could do anything to improve the current situation. But she almost seemed more shocked by this turn of events than he was and she was determined to do _something, _so she was going to try and get an explanation out of Janet since Jack really couldn't explain what happened at the hospital in detail. The most he could relay was that he tried telling her and Janet got angry and stormed out. God, why did he think it was such a good idea to say his piece when he was drunk with stitches in his head? What he would give to remember!

They'd been on such a roll trying to work Jack up to confessing in time, and now it was like they had run straight into a brick wall. They didn't know what to do now! They hadn't actually planned what to do after the confessing part. Everything was supposed to just work out after that. The telling Janet he loved her was supposed to be the hard part. The aftermath was supposed to be sunshine and happiness, it was supposed to be relief!

Jack wasn't feeling relief, that was for sure. Nope. Absolutely not. It should've been the conclusion to years of confusion and pining. Instead, things were worse than they were before. Now he didn't know if he even had his friend anymore. And that's what he had been afraid of all those years! He shouldn't have said anything. He should've just kept his mouth shut and suffered in silence. He'd been managing well enough doing that before Phillip came into their lives.

But it was too late for all of that. He did what he wanted to do, said what he wanted to say. Maybe that had to be it. The end wouldn't be this big sweeping romance that he imagined. Instead it was a great long friendship that just… fizzled out. If it had been some movie he was watching, he'd probably say how disappointing the ending was. It didn't make sense after everything they'd been through together. It couldn't end now! Not like that! There had to be more to the story! But what else could _he _do?

_**three days until the wedding**_

Janet waved to her boss and walked out into the parking lot. She had just finished up teaching an intense aerobics lesson and was looking forward to now using her lunch break to grab something from the little burger joint a few blocks over. But once her car was in her direct line of sight, she saw a familiar blonde propped up against it, perusing a magazine.

"Terri?"

She popped her head up. "Janet! I was starting to think you'd never come outside!"

"What are you doing here? Is everything okay?"

"Sure! I brought you lunch!" She reached down and picked up a large brown paper bag from the very burger place she was planning on grabbing lunch from.

"Oh!" Janet exclaimed, at first grateful that she didn't have to spend most of her lunch break actually going and getting her food and then driving back. But she was also apprehensive. "What for?"

"What for?" Terri chuckled. "Can't I have lunch with my roommate before she gets married, jets off to Greece for a whole month, and then moves out of the house?"

Janet eyed her suspiciously, but Terri's sweet smile revealed nothing to her. She knew the nurse wasn't totally oblivious though. She had to be aware that she'd had another falling out with Jack because Janet wasn't even trying to pretend otherwise, but that didn't mean she wanted Terri trying to fix it for them.

Perhaps she was smart enough to not discuss it. Maybe she really did just want a harmless lunch with her roommate. She let herself relax a little and gestured for Terri to follow her to one of the little patio tables outside the gym's entrance.

It actually turned out that Janet was right to be suspicious. Terri walked a step behind her, reminding herself to stay casual and not jump right into mentioning jack if she wanted to figure out what was actually going on.

And she did a pretty good job if she said so herself. She kept the topics on things like work, the book Janet was currently reading, General Hospital, how she ruined a pan trying to make herself an omelette for breakfast that morning. It was actually nice not having to talk about the wedding or Greece or packing. Things felt normal for once. But when Janet mentioned only having 10 minutes left before she had to clock back in, Terri knew it was now or never.

"So…" She wiped her hands off with purpose on a paper napkin. "Have you talked to Jack since Sunday?"

Caught off guard, because she thought Terri had read the room and wouldn't bring him up for her sake, she chewed and swallowed her food very slowly. "Why?"

Terri remained easygoing and dipped a french fry into the ketchup. "I was just wondering. He's seemed pretty down since we took him home from the hospital."

'_Good.' _Janet thought. '_He should be.' _

"It wouldn't have anything to do with whatever happened when Larry and I went to get coffee, would it?"

She should've trusted her gut. The second she saw Terri camped out by her car she should've just turned around and walked right back into the gym.

"So you just don't have anything to say about it?"

Janet set her burger down. "Why should I? I don't know why Jack acts the way he does."

"You would know better than anyone else." Terri said reasonably. "You two know each other so well."

If Terri had said that a month ago, she would have accepted the observation easily. "Not as well as we think we do." She muttered.

Terri frowned. "Now what does that mean?"

"Nothing. It just means you shouldn't think of me as the person who has all the answers when it comes to Jack."

"Seriously, Janet. What did you two talk about?"

She inhaled testily. "It doesn't matter what we talked about. Not that it's any of _your_ business anyway."

Terri had to bite her tongue. If only Janet knew how much this had become her business these last few weeks. She leaned forward on her elbows. "It does matter, because you're leaving next Monday. All your stuff is packed up in boxes and ready to go."

Janet didn't say anything and picked sesame seeds off her burger bun.

"You don't want to leave things on a bad note with Jack. Right?"

"Why do you care so much about what happens between Jack and me?"

Terri tilted her head and if Janet wasn't looking at her food she would've seen the exasperated look on her roommate's face. "Pardon me for caring about my friends, especially when it's you guys. It's always an event with you two."

Something about that statement tugged at Janet's heart. Aside from her physically moving out and away from the apartment, their little trio would never be the same. Not now. Not after Jack's proposition ruined her hopes _and _her preconceived notions about their friendship. It was like the end of an era. She swallowed back the sadness. "You don't have to do that anymore."

Terri knitted her eyebrows together. Why couldn't she just… make sense? Janet had all but provided spoken confirmation that she had feelings for Jack that night at the club. "Did he say what I think he said?"

Janet finally looked up at her. "And what do you think he said?" She'd love to hear what Terri's guess would be because there was no way she'd get it right.

Clasping her hands together and choosing her words very carefully Terri said, "If it's what we talked about him saying, I honestly don't know why you're so… angry."

She had to run that sentence through her head twice over to make sure she understood. "_What you talked about him saying_? You knew he was going to talk to me?" Janet asked, slightly scandalized.

Terri was taken aback. "Um… yes?" She answered like somehow she was going to be wrong.

The confused answer jogged Janet's memory and suddenly Terri's going on about that thing Jack needed to talk to her about at the bachelorette party made a lot more sense. But it also made her stiffen in her chair. She just discovered someone she trusted had secretly been working for the enemy. It was a betrayal almost as bad as Jack's.

"_You_? You knew about this? You _knew_ he was going to say those things to me?"

"Yes?" Terri's eyes widened watching Janet malfunction with each one worded answer she received.

"You told me at the party." Janet sputtered. "You- you told me to relax about it. I can't believe you would do that."

Terri shook her head to get the words flowing. "I'm sorry. I just- I really thought that's what you wanted Jack to say."

She regretted it the second she finished speaking. Janet's features somehow widened even more in outrage.

"Why? _Why_ would you think I'd _want_ to hear that?"

Terri made to answer her but Janet wasn't finished and fired another question at her. "This whole time you knew he was going to say that to me?" If she wasn't already in a chair she would've needed to sit down. This was crazy.

"Well, I mean… yeah?" She chuckled nervously. But hurriedly added, "But I didn't know he was going to _say_ anything to you until a few weeks ago."

Janet put her hands over her eyes. "_Terri. _I'm getting married on Saturday."

"... I know."

"In what world is that appropriate to tell someone who is about to get married?"

The blonde sighed. "I know, I know. It's not ideal, but-"

"Not _ideal_?" Janet blurted.

"But better late than never?"

"No! It's _wrong!"_

"Wrong?"

"Yes."

Certainly Terri knew Janet made things more difficult for herself than anyone else would, but this was way beyond anything she could've imagined.

"Janet. I've gotta say, I'm surprised you feel this way."

"You're-" Janet's hands fell from her face and limply smacked against the table top. "I could say the same to you."

"What?"

Everything had been turned on its head. They had to be in some alternate reality, it was the only explanation for everyone's acting so out of character.

"You know, maybe it was too much to expect more of Jack. I'm willing to admit that I always think he's capable of more than he actually is. But I really _really_ thought you were better than this, Terri."

"Why would I be better than this?" She asked out of genuine curiosity.

"You know, that's a great question." Janet sneered. "I guess this whole time I've given you way too much credit. But what with the way you were all over Larry the other night, maybe I should've seen something like this coming from you."

Color flooded into Terri's face."I was drunk!" She squeaked.

Janet rolled her eyes.

"And how does that have _anything_ to do with your and Jack's inability to handle things like adults?"

"It has everything to do with it!" Janet nearly shouted. "Because Jack doesn't handle things like an adult! Your encouraging this behavior is just another thing that proves you're just as immature as he is. You all have a total lack of consideration for other people!"

Terri gaped. How her drunken kiss with Larry had any connection to her supporting Jack's being in love with Janet was completely beyond her. But she wasn't going to sit there and take it as Janet threw insults at her. "So me not wanting you and Jack to make the biggest mistake of your lives is immature? Me caring about what happens between the two of you is childish?"

"The biggest mistake of my-" Janet could have screamed. "Yes! It is childish because you need to _butt out_. What's done is done. Jack made himself very clear. And if you really were an adult you would respect my decision to not take him up on his offer and leave me alone."

Terri laughed a tired, unamused laugh. "Fine." She stood up. "Fine. I'll butt out." She was surprisingly calm."But I'm sorry. I can't respect a decision as wrong as the one you're making."

Janet opened her mouth to protest but Terri spoke again before she could get a word in. "Your stubbornness is just going to keep ruining your life like it ruined what you could've had with Jack."

Janet sat frozen like she'd just been slapped in the face.

Terri gathered the remains of her meal and stuffed it back into the paper bag. Why she let herself get involved in this mess was beyond her. She started walking away but back tracked to make one last statement.

"You know, I really thought all that stuff you said that night at the party would've stuck with you, and the whining and crying about Jack not being with you for one night would've put things into perspective. But hey! I kissed Larry one time when I was drunk, so obviously you're too good to listen to anything I have to say."

_**two days until the wedding**_

"And so I told him, I said, I'm not getting the Cadillac in _tan. _Are you crazy? I already have one in that color!" Todd, the best man, guffawed at the end of his own story.

All the members of the wedding party were currently at Phillip's country club in the middle of wedding rehearsals. The bride and groom and both sets of parents were busy taking their sweet time debating whether the ceremony should be held by the lake or on the lawn in front of the _massive _main house.

Meanwhile, the groomsmen and bridesmaids were under the command of the photographer, a friend of the Dawson family. He was directing them to take action shots to see how everyone looked against the different scenery options. He was circling the group in their designated ceremony lineup on the steps leading out to the front lawn, snapping photos of god knows what, and so Terri was stuck with Todd on the top step with Jack and Jenny in front of them, and Josh and Ginger in the very front on the bottom step. Katie and Ginger's seven year old, Alexander, lucked out and were having a jolly time running around the endless expanse of grass.

"Isn't that funny?" Todd asked, wiping the tears of laughter from his eyes.

"Hilarious." Terri stated blandly.

"And the funniest part is that _he _was the one who sold me the original tan one in the first place!"

"How many pictures do you really need, man?" Jenny asked the photographer as he stepped back to get a wide shot of the group. He ignored her and continued snapping photos.

Aside from Todd's recounting of his adventure purchasing his latest Cadillac, the group hadn't been very talkative during their photoshoot. Janet's siblings definitely noticed there was something off about Jack, but there was no easy way to ask what was up when Ginger and Todd were standing amongst them.

Jenny was particularly miffed by how quiet Jack was since she'd been stuck at his side for the last hour. She almost would've traded places with Terri and dealt with Todd herself. At least then, _she_ would've told him to shut the fuck up.

She sighed loudly. "You know, this is exactly why I just eloped."

"Oh, I didn't know you were married." Ginger said in a drab voice.

"Newly divorced, actually." Jenny spoke to the long brown hair in front of her. "Which is why people shouldn't go all out on weddings. I mean they could break up in a year. And then what? All of this money spent goes down the drain. Am I right, Jack?"

Jack was quite the trooper and playing his part by being present at the rehearsal, but he was finding it hard to stay focused on what was going on around him. "Huh?"

"Don't you think spending so much money on a wedding is ridiculous? Especially when everybody just ends up divorced these days?"

He shrugged. "Why does anyone spend money on anything?"

"Well, why _not_?" Todd cracked from the back on the tallest step. "Am I right?"

Terri rubbed her temple.

"Everything ends. Why bother?"

Jenny stepped back to get a good look at him. "Damn, that's uh, depressing."

Jack just looked out to the lake where Janet, Phillip, and the parents were still talking.

She turned around to ask Terri what his deal was, but the blonde found a sudden interest in the paint on the railing she was leaning on, obviously avoiding questioning stares.

Eventually Phillip's photographer let them off the hook and the party quickly split up, Phillip's friends went one way and Janet's went the other. Well, Jack wandered off to walk along the edge of the lake, leaving plenty of distance between himself and Janet.

Terri and Janet's siblings took to walking around the grounds, keeping the kids in their direct line of sight.

"So are you gonna tell us what's going on with Jack?" Jenny asked.

"Yeah, I assumed whatever happened at the hospital would've blown over by now." Josh added.

"Uh, well…" Terri began. "I think that the wedding is just gonna go on as planned. No interference. No putting a stop to it."

The Woods both stopped in their tracks. "_Why?_" Jenny questioned.

"_Apparently_ they've already had their little talk. Janet wants nothing to do with him." She explained.

"You're kidding."

Josh frowned. "How do you know that?"

"Because I asked her about it. Terri chuckled weakly, trying not to alarm them with how much it was actually stressing her out. "Boy is she _mad_."

Jenny crossed her arms. "But I thought we were sure that they both had feelings for each other. What about that thing with the Paul McCartney song?"

"I don't know." Terri signaled for them to continue walking. "I don't know."

"I can't believe this. She's just gonna marry _Phillip_? _That _guy? That boring, bland man?"

Terri winced. "Looks like it. She probably won't be speaking to Jack and me ever again as well." She added.

"Really?" Josh asked.

She nodded. "Yup. So this wedding should be tons of fun."

With a snort of laughter, Jenny asked, "Now why would she not be speaking to you? What did _you _do?"

"Oh, I supported Jack's having feelings for her."

"God."

"Yeah, I guess that's like committing a murder. Wish I knew that before all of this."

"So she's not speaking to you ever again?" Josh asked, doubtful that Janet would go to that extreme.

"That's what it feels like." She confirmed. "Well… I also told her she was letting her stubbornness ruin her life. She didn't really like that."

Jenny smiled deviously. "Wow, good for you."

But Terri still felt a little guilty about it. "She was being really mean!" She whined. "She said I was just as immature as Jack because I kissed Larry!"

"Oh, you poor thing." Jenny teased.

Josh noticed Janet had broken off from Phillip and their parents' group and was taking a seat on the steps where they were just having their pictures taken. "Would you two excuse me?"

"Yeah, go talk some sense into her." Jenny nodded when she saw where he was headed. "Terri's credibility went down the drain the second she slobbered all over that Larry guy."

"Hey!" Terri protested.

"You were a mess. Just accept it."

Janet leaned back to lounge against the steps just as her brother had come up to her.

"Hey." He sat down next to her.

"This place is pretty. Don't you think?" She asked.

Josh took in the view before him. He actually thought it was quite boring. "Sure."

She closed her eyes. It felt nice to sit in the sun when it was so nice and peaceful out.

"So… what's going on here?" Josh asked.

"Just taking a break. Letting Mom and Dad argue with Phillip's parents about those string lights."

"Oh, no. I meant with Terri and Jack. Sounds like things aren't going so good."

She opened an eye and peered up at him. "Did Terri make you come over here?"

"No, I came on my own accord."

"Oh." She shut her eye again. "Then it's none of your business."

"What if she did send me over here?"

"Then I'd tell you to tell her it's none of your business."

He folded his hands together. "Okay... Can I ask you another question then?"

"Go for it."

"How come you're marrying Phillip?"

"Well you see, he proposed to me and I said yes." She joked.

"Janet." His voice was serious. She opened her eyes and saw her brother's grave face looking down as her. "Come on."

"Why are you asking?"

Like an annoying little brother he simply replied, "'Cause I wanna know."

She exhaled. The day was going fine. She hadn't had to speak to Jack or Terri. She didn't even have to be around them thanks to Phillip's photographer. Couldn't she go one day ignoring all of her problems in peace?

"Why does everyone have something to say about me and Phillip?" She avoided Josh's question because she knew her truthful answer wasn't a good one. Her eyes followed the rowdy group of people running around in the distance. It looked like Jack, Jenny, and Terri (the everyone she was referring to) had been roped into a game of tag by the kids.

"Probably because they care about you."

Jack purposefully fell over so Katie could catch up to him and tag him.

"And they care enough to want what's best for you."

She tore her eyes away from Jack's exaggerated attempt to stand up so the kids would have more time to run. "Can't you just trust that I know what I'm doing?"

"Hey." Josh kicked her foot. "Who am I, Jenny? You know I trust you. That's why I'm kinda worried now.

"Why? Because I'm getting married faster than most people do?" She asked sourly.

"Well there's that." He started. "And also the fact that it looks like your friendships are sorta falling apart."

"Oh, so now you're gonna lecture me about how I deal with my friends?"

Josh shook his head. "Maybe."

"Well, I don't want to hear it."

"How come?"

"Because it's none of your business." She repeated herself.

He rolled his eyes. God, she really was so stubborn. "You're not turning into one of those people who drops all their friends once they get married are you?"

"What?" Janet exclaimed. "No, of course not!" It wasn't her fault Jack and Terri were the worst, that was their doing.

"Okay, that's good. 'Cause they're keepers."

'_Here we go.'_ She thought. "Is that so?"

"Yes." He said pointedly. "And despite whatever's going on at the moment, they're still here helping you. They've been bending over backwards more than the rest of us have and in more ways than you probably even realize."

That last remark obviously flew over her head. She had a tendency to jump to the wrong conclusions and therefore had no idea what her roommates' motivations had been this whole time.

"Plus, I don't know if _you've _noticed, but this has to be the most work I've seen Phillip do on the wedding since we've been in town."

That thought had briefly crossed her mind a while back, but then she let it slip right on by. But it was true. It took her longer to locate Phillip. Eventually she saw that he was sitting at a table with Todd, Ginger, and the photographer, the four of them laughing about something Todd had just said.

"So sure," Josh continued. "You can get mad at everyone who challenges the idea of you marrying Phillip, but just think about how hard everyone's been working to make sure the wedding happens on time."

She knew he was right, and if she had been in either Jack or Terri's position she would've ditched her wedding planning duties in an instant. But why did she have to be nice to them just because they chose to stick around? They hadn't even apologized. Not that she was even in a forgiving mood.

"Let me guess then. You don't like Phillip."

She watched him shift uncomfortably in his seat. "Go ahead and say it. Everyone else has decided to be brutally honest with me lately. You might as well be too."

"Alright." He nodded. "I guess I'm having trouble getting what you see in him." He took her silence to mean he could keep going. "I mean I can see what Mom and Dad like about him."

She sat up and leaned forward to rest her arms on her knees. "Is there something wrong with that?"

"There is when Mom and Dad seem more into Phillip than you do."

She had long since exhausted her ability to be outraged by anything anyone told her this week. And in a pathetic, laughably unconvincing voice she said, "I'm into him."

Josh raised his eyebrows, clearly not believing her. "If you say so."

It would've been so nice if she could just get up and run away so she wouldn't have to talk about any of this. Instead she watched Katie shriek as her mother caught up to her and tagged her, and then quickly setting after Terri as her target.

"It wouldn't be the end of the world if you ended up deciding this isn't right for you."

She let out a tired chuckle. "Mom and Dad would be heartbroken."

"Josh shrugged and stretched out his long legs. "Ah, they'd get over it."

Janet tilted her head skeptically.

"They got over Jenny eloping and getting divorced!"

"Um, no they didn't." She corrected him. "Mom's been going on and on about how this is the first wedding of her children that she actually gets to witness."

"Okay, okay." Josh admitted. "You're right. But Jenny got over it and that's what counts, not Mom and Dad's approval."

Janet hugged her legs as a gentle breeze whipped past them.

"Just saying, if for whatever reason you feel like this isn't for the best, whether because Phillip isn't the right guy and maybe someone else is…" He caught Janet's eyes drifting back to the group playing tag. "... Or just for yourself. You don't _have _to get married even if there isn't someone else waiting in the wings."

And then the photographer was calling for the bridesmaids and groomsmen to reconvene by the lake this time. Josh hoisted himself up and gave Janet's knee a pat before walking off for the next photoshoot.

She hated that he was making her feel guilty and giving her all of these simple solutions. She wanted to stay mad at Jack and Terri because… well, because! If she was being honest with herself (which she rarely was) she'd admit that she was angry at _herself_. She let things get this far and why was that? Because she put too much faith into Jack to not be a thoughtless pig.

Josh could say nice things about Jack and Terri until the cows came home, it still wouldn't change what they'd said.

Even if she didn't have feelings for Jack, wouldn't she have been just as angry? Yes, she thought so. And she most definitely would be equally as angry at Terri for supporting what was essentially cheating.

Yes, she'd still be furious, but she knew it hurt more this way. What Jack wanted was sort of almost what she wanted. Almost was so close that it could be worse than being completely off course, because it makes you think there's a chance, that if you keep waiting just a little bit longer, then that almost will eventually hit its mark.

But he wanted some cheap affair, a fling before she got married just because apparently that's all he considered her for. It hurt because time was up. It was too late to keep waiting for him to change.

She wished she could just go home and sulk in her bed. The wedding really was just in a few days, she getting _married _married. For real. When was she going to stop playing these stupid games?

She thought the big reason she was so set on marrying Phillip was because she saw it as a way out from the endless cycle of getting her hopes up that maybe something could happen between her and Jack. She told herself she couldn't take it anymore, and yet the whole time she'd been engaged, she continued holding out hope for him to do something because she always trusted him to do or say the right thing when it really counted. For years they had been experts at helping each other out of a bind. They could always rely on the other to help carry out the most ridiculous plans. It didn't matter how crazy things got, they always came through for each other because that's just how great they were together. But there was always going to come the day when she and Jack would be on totally different wavelengths and the results would be disastrous, like her having to get married to Phillip.

And yes, he spoke up, but he said the wrong thing. So now what? Was she supposed to just go through with marrying Phillip because Jack hadn't pulled through?

She knew marrying someone mainly to get away from someone else you care too much about was no reason to get married. And if these last few weeks told her anything, it was that it was possible that she'd always hold out hope for Jack. And wasn't that both optimistic and incredibly bleak considering the circumstances?


	15. Chapter 15: A Tidy Apartment

Note: Alright, here we go! Just one more chapter after this one! Hope you enjoy!

**Chapter 15: Maybe it's Actually a Good Thing No One Knows How to Keep a Tidy Apartment**

The last few days had been something of a mourning period for Jack, mourning for the loss of what he would never have. But then bam! Suddenly it was Friday and he was thrust out of that hopeless daze he'd been stuck in. The dreaded event was nearly upon them. The wedding was tomorrow evening and now he was hurrying to get all of that food ready for the reception. The wedding was _tomorrow _and gone was the melancholy and here was the sense of urgency and anger.

He was angry with himself for stupidly accepting Janet's request that he cater her wedding. Avoiding the fact that the woman he loved was marrying someone else was very hard to do when he was directly involved in front of and behind the scenes. And he was angry at Janet for _still _acting like he had dropped off the face of the planet and no longer existed, when he was working diligently to make sure the food was perfect for the special occasion. He briefly considered what might happen if he didn't provide the food and actually _did_ disappear at least until Janet went on her honeymoon, but he knew he was too chicken to actually go through with it. Even when he was furious with her, he valued his life too much to drop out of the game now.

In hindsight, he knew he shouldn't have agreed to be Janet and Phillip's caterer, or rather, maybe he should have just told her how he felt the night she asked him, at least then he'd have enough time to lick his wounds and get over himself before the wedding, because preparing all that food for Janet and Phillip and their guests was a kind of torture he certainly hadn't even considered.

So you can imagine that after spending the entire day at the bistro, both getting ready for the wedding and serving his own customers at the restaurant, that Jack would be more than exhausted. It would make sense that upon coming home that evening to find the apartment in shambles that he'd be irritated.

He was tired. He was in a bad mood. He had to head right back to the bistro early in the morning to get the cake ready. If it had been any other night and if he hadn't been in such a terrible mood he would've gone straight to bed and ignored the mess.

Now he knew that he, Janet, and Terri hadn't spent much time at home the past few days, but this was just ridiculous. This was the fourth day that the ironing board stood set up next to the side of the couch close to the bathroom, and that laundry basket full of half folded clothes on the floor beside the ironing board had been there even longer. This wasn't even mentioning the pile of clothes draped over the arm of the couch in a messy heap. It also looked like someone had least _attempted_ to vacuum, seeing as the machine was still plugged into the wall, but they probably didn't get very far because of all the stuff all over the floor, stuff which included cardboard boxes full of Janet's things, ready to be picked up by the movers on Sunday.

He grumbled and maneuvered his way into the kitchen where he nearly had a heart attack. It was in just as bad shape as the living room! An open box of cookies sat next to a nearly empty coffee pot on the table with several mugs scattered about, some of which still had coffee within their contents. The sink was somehow already full even though he had just done the dishes on Tuesday, and there looked to be scorched eggs stuck to the bottom of the pan sitting on the stovetop. Though he hadn't stepped foot in this room in the last few days because he was so busy with work and the wedding and staying out of Janet's way, he should have expected this since the girls had been left to fend for themselves in the kitchen. But still that didn't mean he wasn't annoyed by it. Although no one could hear him, he sighed again very loudly before turning right back around into the living room.

He tried to take a comfortable seat on the couch, but the mess was just too bothersome. It looked like Terri's nail polish bottles had rolled off the coffee table onto the floor, which was probably due to the fact that the table's surface was uneven because of all the newspapers covering it. The couch managed to feel crowded even with no one else sitting on it, what with the pile of magazines taking up the space on the cushion next to the pile of clothes! And next to _that_, was a notepad and a bunch of crumpled up pieces of paper. Okay, those were his plans for the reception, and _yes_, he had made a game out of throwing the balled up paper into the nearby wastebasket, and _yes_, he missed more shots than the ones he made, and _no,_ he didn't bother getting up and actually putting them into the wastebasket, but _still_. The whole place was a disaster.

He leaned over to grab his notepad and noticed that there was actually a small pool of nail polish now dried and smeared over the newspapers on the coffee table.

That was the last straw for him. He snatched up the ruined newspaper and crumpled it aggressively. "Doesn't anyone bother to clean up after themselves around here? Or do I have to do everything myself?"

Since he thought he was alone, the movement in the girls' room scared him half to death. The door flying open and Janet's angry face popping out into the living room scared him even more.

"Do you _seriously_ want me to clean the apartment for you?" She snarled. It was the first time she had said anything to him since she and the gang had picked him up from the hospital Sunday morning. Even though she vowed to give Jack and possibly Terri the silent treatment for the foreseeable future, she couldn't help herself. The wedding was tomorrow and she was on edge, anything would have set her off. How fitting that it would be Jack to do it.

Jack stumbled back in fear, but she didn't care. "How inconsiderate can you get?" She stepped out into the living room. "I have been so busy and you're out here whining that the living room is a little messy?"

'A little messy' was definitely a complete understatement.

"I-"

"It's not like my wedding isn't tomorrow or anything."

He hated how easily she could make him feel guilty. He was about to make some meek apology for bothering her, but she was on a roll.

"Did you ever think that hmm, I don't know, maybe you could suck it up and clean up the apartment yourself?" She spat at him. "You're not getting married tomorrow. You don't have anything to do."

The notepad burned in his hand. The combination of her attitude and his being emotionally and physically overworked only set his anger right back into the front seat.

"You're unbelievable." He was surprised his voice was so calm.

Her eyes widened. "_I'm _unbelievable?"

"Yeah." He stated. "You think I've been lounging about twiddling my thumbs all day? No. I've been working my ass off making food for _your_ wedding."

Janet's glare didn't waver. She was well aware of all that Jack was doing to help out with the wedding. Josh had been kind enough to remind her of that the previous day. But Jack could hand her a million dollars right now and it wouldn't undo what he said at the hospital. God, he just made her so _mad!_

She didn't have time for this tonight though, so she had to be the first one to break. "Fine." She snapped. "You want me to clean the entire apartment for you so you can do nothing in peace, you poor thing?" She marched over to the vacuum cleaner.

"Janet." Jack tried to speak, but she flipped the switch on the vacuum and it came whirring to life and she aggressively started pushing it across the carpet.

For fear that she was going to run over his feet, he hopped around her and yanked the cord from the outlet.

Janet whipped around and boy, if her looks couldn't already kill…

"Oh, so you don't want me to clean then?"

Her bratty behavior was only egging his on. "I'll do it, _god_. You don't have to make such a big deal about it."

She put a hand on her hip. "You didn't seem to want to do it two minutes ago." She tried to snatch the cord from his hand but he held it out of her reach. "Give me the cord, Jack."

"No."

She considered just yanking the cord from his grasp, but instead she let the vacuum fall so she could put her hands up. "I don't know what you want from me then."

Jack rubbed his hand over his eyes. "It would be _nice _if people could pick up after themselves here. Is that really too much to ask?" He dropped the cord and it landed with a quiet thud next to the vacuum cleaner. Then he made an incredibly dramatic event out of walking to the side of the couch with all the laundry, which he began folding, half to make a point that he was doing more than his fair share and half because he was afraid of what Janet would do if he didn't tidy _something _after complaining too loudly. However, he didn't last very long before Janet's scrutinizing stare made him self-conscious.

"Do you need something?" Jack asked in as polite a voice as he could muster, which really wasn't polite at all.

"You're doing it wrong."

He let out a long breath through his nose. "It's folding clothes, Janet. I'm not an idiot."

He regretted saying it because the look on Janet's face told him that she was about to prove that he was in fact an idiot.

"Those clothes have been sitting in a pile for days. They're all wrinkled."

Jack picked up a blouse that he recognized as Terri's and shook it out before he folded it up as neatly as possible.

"Oh my _god!_" Janet said so loudly that he dropped a nightgown.

"_What?"_

She rolled her eyes. "Do you not know what an iron is used for?"

"No." He answered sarcastically. "I've never used one in my life." He picked up the nightgown from the floor and folded it carelessly and plopped it on top of the blouse. "If Terri doesn't want wrinkled clothes, she shouldn't leave them sitting on the couch all week."

Janet stalked over towards him and he honestly thought she might smack him. Instead, she snatched the clothes from the top of the basket and laid them out on the ironing board. "Do something else." She ordered. "You're so incompetent."

He threw his hands in the air and took a few steps towards the vacuum cleaner. His fingers barely touched the handle when Janet snapped again. "You have to pick up the floor before you vacuum."

"But you didn't have to when you were vacuuming a second ago?"

She ignored the question, so he threw her a petulant scowl which she gladly returned.

He huffed as he went to scoop up the nail polish bottles that had fallen to the floor.

"That's not where they go and you know it." Janet said the instant he set them on the coffee table.

His mouth fell open. "This is Terri's stuff, not mine!"

Janet set the iron down with force. "Well, you're the one who was making such a big deal about what a mess the living room is, Jack! If you want it to be clean so badly, you have to put things where they belong!"

"Why can't Terri just clean up after herself?" Jack shouted.

"Okay, go ahead. Go and call Terri at the hospital and tell her to come home and put her nail polish away."

He actually almost went over to the phone to dial the hospital because he knew that would also make Janet mad. But not wanting to go to all that trouble, he swiped up the nail polish and stalked to the girls' room to put it away. Since he genuinely didn't know where the nail polish was supposed to go, he tossed the bottles onto Terri's bed, hoping he wouldn't get an earful from Janet whenever she returned to their room

When he went back to the living room, he stopped in the doorway to glower at Janet's profile while she angrily ironed Terri's clothes. Then he started grumbling as he began to grab items from the floor. A sock (probably Terri's that had fallen from her basket), a pen, a few more balls of paper (Jack's), another pen, a roll of packing tape (for Janet's boxes).

He was nearly done gathering when he circled his way over to Janet's plant display and noticed there was something stuck in the crack beneath the front door. When he managed to pull it out, he discovered it was a band-aid stuck to a greasy napkin. He let out another loud breath of air through his nose and started muttering about how disgusting it was, and how he thought women were supposed to be cleaner than men so how come they were always leaving their things out and how come they couldn't throw away things like band-aids for crying out loud. He was about to ball up the band-aid napkin thing in his hand when his own name caught his eye.

Janet had been pretending like she couldn't hear his annoying mumbling, but once it stopped and she noticed out of the corner of her eye that he also stopped moving, she became even more annoyed. He was infuriating. He had to go shouting about how much of a disaster the place was and then there he was taking his sweet time to clean up. She knew he was just lollygagging so she would pick up the slack, but _no way_ was that going to happen.

The shirt she was working on was still wrinkled, but she turned her head to look at him full on. "Next time the apartment isn't up to your standards, don't yell about it if you're not going to do anything about it."

Jack had a hard time making out what was written on the napkin. It looked like it had gotten wet and the ink had bled a bit, but he could identify Janet's handwriting anywhere.

"If you think you're gonna leave this whole mess for me to clean, you're crazy." Janet spoke again, but alas, still nothing. She rolled her eyes and resumed ironing the shirt.

This curious napkin made Jack forget he and Janet had just been yelling at each other over the mess that Terri was mostly responsible for. "Did you write me a note?"

She scowled at the sound of his voice. "Why would I write you a note?"

"Then what's this?"

She looked up and first saw the crankiness on his face had disappeared.. Then her eyes moved to what looked to be a napkin in his hand, and there was a band-aid dangling over the back of it.

"It's kind of hard to read, but it says 'Dear, Jack' at the top." He noted before looking back to her for an answer.

That's when it hit her and her eyes bulged in panic. The night of the party when they were locked out of the apartment, Janet had taken it upon herself to leave a note for Jack so he'd know where to find them when he returned from Phillip's party (Terri had come up with the brilliant solution of using a band-aid to stick the napkin note to the door before heading up to Larry's place).

Now if all she had included in that note were instructions to go to Larry's apartment, Janet certainly would not be on the verge of losing it. Of course, that hadn't been all she wrote! She was drunk and overly confident that she discuss her feelings with Jack by the end of the night!

"What?" Jack asked, registering that her face had paled.

Her heart leapt right into her throat. "Jack, give it to me." Her voice came out strange and high-pitched.

"Why?" He half-laughed out of confusion by her sudden change in behavior. "What's going on?"

"You don't need to read that."

"How come?"

And then out of nowhere, she hurled herself at him in a desperate attempt to get the note away from him before he could get past 'Dear, Jack'. But he was quicker than her and held it out of her reach.

She was so set on getting it out of his hands that she climbed on top of him, like she was expecting a piggyback ride, yet she still couldn't reach hand held high in the air. Damn him for being so much taller than her!

"Let me have it!"

"Why should I give it to you?" he was bemused and strangely calm considering he had a person hanging onto his back.

"Because it's mine!"

"It says dear Jack." He said, balling the napkin into his fist to keep it safe. "I think that means it's mine."

"No." She strained trying to reach her arm out far enough to pry his fist open. "It's- it's trash. It's nothing."

"Then it shouldn't matter if I take a look then."

"_No._" Janet growled. "Give it to me."

"Ow!" Jack complained as she dug into his shoulder to give herself more support. "You can have it after I look at it!"

"No, you don't need to look at it!"

"Janet, you know this is only making me want to read it more."

"Ugh." She smacked the back of his head.

"Hey!"

"Just give me it to me!" She ordered. "I don't have all night!"

His arm was beginning to ache from holding it up at an angle but he smiled smugly. "Ah

see, but _I _do. What was it you said? I don't have anything to do? Is that right?"

"Jack, if you don't give me that note, I'll never speak to you again." Janet finally resorted

to threatening him.

"I thought you were already not talking to me ever again."

And then she watched in disbelief as he carefully uncrumpled the napkin in his fist and squinted his eyes to decipher the writing from a distance. She gave one last weak attempt at reaching for it before she gave up. It was no use. He was already reading it. She slid down and returned to the ground. He might as well read it, it wasn't like they were going to be seeing much of each other after she got married anyways. But still, she'd never experienced the sense of pathetic humiliation as intensely as she did in this moment.

Jack didn't even look back to see that Janet was covering her face in shame. He was too set on finding out what all the fuss was over this greasy napkin with a band-aid stuck to it.

Dear Jack,

We are locked out of the apartment so don't bother coming in. Obviously it was Jenny's fault. Hopefully you had fun at the party. I didn't have that much fun. I don't know what I'm doing. Maybe this isn't right. Everything has been so weird lately & I think it's my fault & I miss you. Terri said you have to tell me something & I have to tell you something too. We should tell each other the truth.

Love, Janet

P.S. We're crashing at Larry's place for the night, so go upstairs

His eyes flew over the words three times to make sure he was understanding it. This couldn't _possibly _mean what he thought it meant. Could it? But all the pain and upset he had experienced over the last few weeks wouldn't let him jump to any conclusions. He'd had enough of being misled by both Janet and himself. It was time to interrogate the source.

Jack tore his face away from the napkin. Janet was standing with her back to him.

"What do you need to tell me?"

She didn't answer.

"What did you need to tell me?" He repeated, but once again he received silence.

"Janet."

Still nothing. Surely she wasn't serious about not speaking to him ever again.

"Janet, please talk to me."

"There's nothing to talk about anymore." She finally said.

Oh, she definitely wasn't getting off that easily.

"I don't believe that."

"Well, I do."

He gave the napkin another read through before refocusing on the shiny black hair before him.

"You said here that we should tell each other the truth. I agree."

It was crazy. Just minutes ago they had been at each other's throats over the messy house, now you could hear a pin drop.

"I think things have been really weird between us too." He offered up courageously.

"Is that so?" Her voice was harsh in defense mode.

"Yes!" Jack said in earnest. "But it's my fault too."

"Ha." She barked, thinking specifically of their conversation at the hospital.

"Can you look at me?"

He watched Janet's stiff body slowly turn around to face him, arms wrapped around herself like they would protect her from whatever they were about to discuss.

"Where do you want to start?" He asked gently.

"I don't know what you're talking about. There's nowhere to start."

He sighed. "Then what does this note mean?"

"I _told _you. It doesn't mean anything anymore."

That 'anymore' wasn't sitting right with him.

"How come?"

"You're kidding me, right?"

Jack folded his arms. "No, I'm not kidding you. I want you to tell me why this note doesn't mean anything anymore."

"I think you know why it doesn't." Janet said.

"Janet, I'm being completely honest with you when I say I have no idea what's going on anymore. I'm totally lost."

She rolled her eyes. Of course. He was oblivious to everything. It all just went right over his head. He didn't even know he was asking her to embarrass herself by revealing that note's true meaning.

"Janet."

She was at her wits end with this, with _all _of it. "It stopped mattering after you had to go and ruin everything at the hospital!"

His shoulders dropped. That damn hospital conversation!

"What uh, what would've happened if I didn't say what I said at the hospital?"

The question made her want to cry, but she couldn't bring herself to answer him.

"Would the note have still meant something?" He helped her.

She sighed. "I don't know. Maybe it might have."

Jack's heart sank. "Janet… you gotta tell me what this means." He held up the measly little napkin in his hand. "I- I don't understand what I did wrong."

"You don't-" She said wearily. "How can you not know what you did wrong?"

"Well! I was drunk out of my mind! Cut me a little slack here!"

She groaned.

"Come on! What I said couldn't have been that bad!"

"Really?"

"From what I remember, it wasn't that bad!" Though all he remembered was talking about Big Bear and feeling really good about it… and then feeling really bad.

Janet raised her eyebrows. "Okay. So proposing we have an affair before I marry Phillip isn't so bad? Really, Jack?"

He blinked and stepped back. "_What?"_

"I don't know how anyone could think there was anything okay with that." She huffed. "I mean, you think you know a person."

"Yeah, except I didn't say that." Jack replied.

"Uh, yes you did. I was there."

"No, I didn't."

"Yes, you _did_."

"No, I _didn't._"

Janet unwrapped her arms from around herself to put her hands on her hips. "You were just saying how drunk you were! I think I'd remember what you said more clearly than you!"

He shook his head. "Janet, I might have been wasted, but I know I didn't ask you to have an affair!"

"Well, you did!"

"What did I say then?"

"You brought up Big Bear!" She shouted with such accusation that she believed he would realize his fatal mistake in an instant.

But that realization never dawned on his face.

"Yeah. See, I knew that."

"Well!"

"Well, what?" Jack asked. "What was so awful about bringing up Big Bear?"

Okay, so he was just as stupid sober as he was drunk. "You told me that you wished I filled out that quiz. You know what that quiz was asking? If someone wanted to have an affair with their roommate. And you know why we went to that cabin in the first place? So you could figure out which one of us filled out that quiz so you could have that affair!" Janet fired at him.

He furrowed his brow. _That's _what she got from that discussion? "Janet, you're even more stupid than I am."

"_Excuse me?"_

He could have laughed. "I didn't bring up Big Bear because I want to have an _affair _with you before you and Phillip get married!"

Now she was the confused one. "Jack, the only reason anyone would bring up Big Bear would be because of the whole affair thing from the quiz!"

"Did I _say _I wanted to have an affair?" Jack asked curiously, knowing in his heart of hearts that it wasn't what he said. This late in the game, he could've trusted his drunk self enough to know that.

Janet sputtered for a moment because playing it back in her head, she couldn't recall him actually saying it in those words. "You- you didn't have to!"

"Yeah, I didn't have to because I was never going to say it." Jack pointed out.

She shook her head trying to make sense of what he was saying. She didn't know where to go from that point if Jack didn't actually mean what she thought.

"Well, then… I- why would you even bring it up? That was a stupid pointless trip. What does that have anything to do with anything?"

"It has everything to do with everything." He replied unhelpfully.

She merely looked annoyed waiting for him to clarify.

"Sorry." His nerves only intensified the urge to laugh.

How _had_ they gone from bickering over the apartment to this? If he had known that complaining about the mess would've led to Janet demanding he explain Big Bear again, he would've asked for a week to prepare what he was going to say. But if the last few weeks had proved anything, it was that readiness to speak to Janet wasn't working in his favor. There was never going to be a perfect moment or the perfect thing to say. So maybe this was how it needed to be. He was just lucky a redo had fallen into his lap.

"It's because… I've always thought that uh…" Janet was suddenly the most terrifying person he'd ever encountered. "...I've always thought that you and I could be so much more than some cheap affair arranged by Larry." He finally let himself release that nervous chuckle.

Considering that this was what he had been working himself up to since Janet got engaged, the moment ended up being quite anticlimactic. He couldn't get a read on her reaction because all she did was lean against the back of the couch for support.

Feeling really awkward and not knowing what to follow that up with, Jack scratched his chin and was reminded that he was still holding that note. Janet had revealed next to nothing about its meaning. "So uh… you wanna tell me about this now?" He proposed.

Then Janet finally reacted, putting her face in her hands once again, this time to cry.

"Janet!"

She put a hand out, ordering him to stay back. "Don't. Just don't."

He was obedient and kept his distance, but looked on in anguish. "What is it?"

It took her so long to gather herself enough to speak that he thought she just wasn't going to answer him. But then at last she sniffled and said, "You are the most confusing person I have ever met."

"... I am?"

"Yes." She wept. "I don't know what to believe anymore. And yeah, things have been weird between us." She referenced her drunken note. "Because I can't figure out what the truth is."

Jack was too stunned to say anything.

"And it's so much harder dealing with the wedding with you around."

He blinked hard, feeling himself getting emotional listening to her.

"Because…" She heaved a mangled sob. "Because… you know, there were times when I really thought you didn't want me to marry Phillip, but maybe I was just making that up… I don't know."

"Janet-"  
"'Cause then every time I thought maybe you didn't want me marrying him, you had to go and say stuff like how nice of a couple he and I were and- and you agreed to cater the wedding on such short notice, and you've been putting up with my family, and you've actually been really helpful when you don't make me want to tear my hair out."

"Janet." He said softly.

"And so I thought it was just my wishful thinking or something."

Jack couldn't stand it anymore. He took a handkerchief out of his jacket pocket and closed the distance between them so he could wipe the tears from her face, luckily she allowed him this.

"It just feels like none of this is right." She sniffled. "And I'm so sick and tired of being confused about what you want."

"Janet, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry." He murmured as she continued to cry onto his

handkerchief. He took a hold of one of her hands to try and calm her down a bit. "I'm such an idiot. Tell me I'm an idiot. It'll make you feel better."

"You're an idiot." She replied immediately though half-heartedly.

He gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "Atta girl."

She cried a little more and for good measure, she internally told herself how much of an idiot _she_ was as well. He handed the tissue off to her so she could dry her own eyes and he was glad she let him keep a hold of her hand all the while.

"Why can't you just be what I need you to be when I need it?" Janet whispered.

"Well." Jack tilted his head. "Because I'm stupid and you drive me crazy." He explained. "And I drive you crazy too."

They both chuckled softly. It felt like the first time they had laughed together in ages, it didn't matter that it was at their own expense.

And when the laughter died down, Jack was looking into Janet's tear sparkled eyes and she was hit with a strong sense of deja vu. Those blue eyes had looked at her like that the night she asked him to cater the reception, when she was still kidding herself into believing leaving Jack behind wouldn't be hard because it seemed like the logical thing to do. She wished she would have taken her own feelings into account back then. But this time when he looked at her, there was less uncertainty and more confidence, more tenderness in his gaze.

It was like the last few weeks didn't happen. All the chaos, the fighting, the wedding planning, it was all erasing itself from their minds. The only thing that mattered was the person standing before them. And suddenly Jack was leaning forwards, hand still entwined in Janet's. She closed her eyes, for once not worrying about what this would mean, just letting what would happen happen.

Then, just as their lips met, the doorbell rang out. Her eyes flew open right as Jack was jumping away from her shock.

Mechanically, Jack went to answer the door, hand on his racing heart. When he opened it, of course it was none other than Janet's parents.

"Mrs. Wood! Mr. Wood!" Jack greeted them breathlessly.

"Good evening, Jack." Ruth's welcome smile quickly turned into a wrinkled nose. "Did you burn something?"

"Uh... what? I'm not cooking anything. I just got home a little while ago." He explained.

Janet gasped and smacked a palm to her forehead. Everyone turned to watch her run over to the ironing board and yank the iron's cord from the outlet in the wall. "Oh, no." She said as she lifted up the iron to see what damage was done.

Jack sniffed at the air, trying too hard to play it cool in front of the parents. "Oh, huh. You're right. There _is _a burnt smell in here."

Ready to lecture, Ruth instantly went into mom mode. "Janet, please tell me you didn't just ruin your clothes by leaving the iron on."

"No." Janet replied and held up a blue striped shirt that now had an iron shaped hole in it. "It's Terri's."

"Oh." Ruth fell back slightly. "Well, where is she?"

"At work."

"You mean she left for work with the iron still on?" Roland asked.

"It sure looks that way doesn't it?" Jack piped up.

Ruth was particularly perturbed by this. "Well, that is extremely careless and _dangerous._"

Jack nodded. "That's what we keep telling her."

Ruth shook her head in disapproval, making a mental note to take Terri aside and discuss how to properly use an iron.

"Well," Roland smiled. "At least everyone is okay! Are you ready to go, Janet?"

"Uh." Janet hesitated. "Um, yeah." She set the ruined shirt back down on the ironing board.

"Are you alright?" Her father asked, noticing her odd demeanor.

"What? Yes, of course!"

"You certainly look stressed, dear." Ruth noted with a flick of the eyes towards Jack.

"Do I?" Janet asked vaguely. "It's uh probably because of the iron."

Jack nodded vigorously. "Very frightening."

Ruth sighed. With everything else going on, there weren't enough hours in the day to unpack whatever strange thing was going on between Janet and her roommate this time. "Go and get your things. Your Aunt Marie just landed an hour ago. She's dying to see you."

"Oh." Janet looked back to Jack and then to her parents again like a deer in the headlights. "Yeah. Right. Let me go get my things." And she turned around and headed into her bedroom, leaving Jack alone with her parents.

Roland chortled lightly. "Poor thing. She'd been a bit frazzled lately."

"I'll say." Ruth agreed but she was watching Jack intently. "So frazzled she didn't even notice that wretched burning smell."

Jack shifted uncomfortably in his spot. Suddenly he was afraid that maybe Mrs. Wood could read minds or something, because the way she was looking at him all suspicious like, was like she knew he had nearly kissed her daughter on the eve of her wedding day.

Avoiding the hawk-like inspection of his roommate's mother, Jack took extreme care in folding Terri's ruined shirt. "So Janet's going to see her aunt?"

"Yes, she's spending the night over at the hotel with the rest of the family." Ruth answered.

"She is?"

"Oh. Come on, Jack." Roland, the ever so oblivious parent, laughed. "You'll survive a few hours without her."

"Besides," Ruth started. "The hotel is closer to the country club and we don't want to bother you and Terri here with all the preparations tomorrow."

"Ah." He nodded slowly. "That makes sense."

"Yes. I thought so." Ruth nodded along with him.

Janet finally emerged from her room, toting a couple of large bags.

"Alrighty." Roland stepped forward to take hold of one of the bags to lighten the load. "Are you ready to go?"

Janet stopped next to Jack while she handed the heavier bag off to her father. "Um… yeah. I guess so."

"Let's head on out then. You know how Marie gets when she's kept waiting." Roland said before leading the procession out the door.

"We'll see you tomorrow evening then, Jack." Ruth smiled politely before following her husband.

Janet walked up to the open front door and stopped in her tracks. She turned around but all she could think to say was, "See ya, Jack."

And all he said in return was, "Yeah. See ya."

She lingered in the doorway a few seconds more before her mother's voice called out for her to hurry up. And then she reluctantly stepped outside and shut the door behind her.

Jack let out a huge breath of air and dropped himself onto the couch, paying no mind to the magazines and clothes he was now sitting on.

_Now_ what?


End file.
